


Winds of the Caspian Sea

by dizzy, savvymavvy



Category: Glee RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, CrissColfer Big Bang 2014, M/M, Merman Darren, Merman sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 02:44:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2635127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvymavvy/pseuds/savvymavvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“The story is merely this: once upon a time, a naughty young mer such as yourself swam too close to the surface. He was drawn to the bright of the sun in ways that a mer really shouldn’t, and no matter how many times his kin told him to stay close he always snuck off on his own. One day, he heard a great splash not very far away from him. It was a two-leg, one who had no water sense at all and fell from her water-home into the sea. This mer, always finding adventures he shouldn’t, took one look at her and he knew the two-leg was to be his mate. But the two-leg saw his tail and screamed, too afraid by what it did not know - for it is true, two-legs know nothing of the sea. They scrape the surface and think they’ve glimpsed the depths, but they <i>cannot</i> know of us.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winds of the Caspian Sea

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the 2014 Crisscolfer Big Bang! Thanks to Bee for beta reading, Deej for some language help, and check out Jacarfanda's amazing art!

Chris loves the water. 

The magazine he works for mostly has him taking pictures of stupid interior decorating spotlights and picture-perfect food but if he had his way, this is the kind of stuff he'd get paid to take pictures of: the gorgeous San Francisco coastline, the rocky crags and the waves lapping at them, the cheesy tourist-popular bridge at sunset shots, the seals and the otters squeaking happily while they dive for fish. He's filled one roll of film already - and that's another thing he wishes he could fold into his career, the art of using real cameras. His digital is great and photoshop is a godsend for magazine layout-worthy photos _fast_ , but on weekends he loves nothing more than spending his day doing this, taking real photographs and then barricading himself in his darkroom and developing them himself. 

Today he's across from Alcatraz. He's been here many times but he's fascinated by the sight of the looming prison across the water. It's one of his favorite sights, though the cheesy guided tour wasn't that interesting to him. He likes it better with the sense of mystery intact. 

His walk takes him down winding paths of rock and sand until he feels removed from civilization. The wind is stirring and despite the fact that there'd been a clear sky when he first set out, suddenly it looks like rain. He thinks about going back but he spots a group of otters and he can't resist the urge to get closer and photograph them. 

The otters are unbothered by Chris around them, too focused on playing and finding fish. The sky rumbles warningly before a loud crash. 

What Chris doesn’t see is off in the distance, a figment from another world coming to play. He doesn’t see it in the same that way every other human just - _doesn’t_. Because that thing out of the corner of your eye, that little flash of movement - it’s so easily swept aside. You think you see a flash of dark hair but pretend it must have been a fish. You think you hear laughter ringing but it must just be the wind. 

What it really is: a mischievous boy whose curiosity always gets the better of him. His name is Darren, he’s just old enough to be trusted on his own and is fully taking advantage of it. 

Darren is just a bit further out and one of the otters keeps swimming over to him, around him and then scampering off again, teasing him before the sky breaks open and begins to pour. Darren loves when it rains on the water, he can surface and feel the soft breeze and drops of rain on his skin. It also helps obscure his shadow from any of the fish he's trying to catch and he really likes that part. 

The otter swims past him again and Darren laughs, finally giving chase after the creature. Darren is quick but the otter is smaller, able to pull maneuvers that would leave Darren's tail knotted up if he tried to follow. 

Darren surfaces, smiling up at the rain coming down on him before spotting the human. Darren is familiar with them. He's seen many of the funny legged creatures on the beaches and in the waters around the edge but this one looks different. This one is really _pretty._ There's another crash and then the human is teetering, toppling into the craggy surf. Darren doesn't know much about the odd two legged creatures but he does know how terrible they are at swimming and he quickly darts out to find the creature in the water. 

It takes time, the clouds overhead making the water darker than normal and Darren doesn't realize how far down the man has sunk already. He does eventually find the man, his own fingers circling around a wrist as he begins to drag him back up to the air. 

Chris comes to briefly but all he feels is blinding pain at his temple. He bobs up and down and catches a swirl of red in the water that makes him nauseous but he's passing out and sinking low again before he can even manage to throw up. He can't even cry for help - not that there would be anyone around to hear him if he did. 

And then... then there is someone, strong arms around him and _fuck_ Chris has no idea who it is but the panic overwhelming him stems a little and he relaxes enough when his head is above water to stop fighting unconsciousness. 

The two-legged man is even _prettier_ up close. Darren can't stop from petting the wet hair and running his fingers down the tip of his nose. He can see a bit of blood on the crown of his head and Darren swims very carefully to his grotto. He has to take the man back under the water to enter but he quickly surfaces once back inside, pulling the human to sit up on a soft shelf of sand. 

Darren doesn't know much about the care of humans, he knows they prefer the air to the water and can't stay under very long. He doesn't know if this particular human was down for too long or not. He hopes not, this human is very pretty and Darren likes to keep pretty things. He moves his tail enough to keep himself up out of the water as he explores his human's body. He is covered in wet loose skin that doesn't seem to match his body at all. Darren pokes at it and is surprised when he finds it begins to lift off and away. At first he's concerned, thinking that his human is hurt more than he had been thinking but soon Darren finds that he can actually shed this sort of skin. Humming to himself, Darren helps his human along, quickly shedding him of this old skin and revealing in the pure white glow of his human's new skin. 

Chris feels his clothes coming off but in a distant way and he can't quite make his eyes open or his fingers move. All he manages is a pitiful gurgling groaning noise, turning his head slightly to spit some water up. The rest of the contents of his stomach blessedly stay down. 

Darren frowns, concerned that there might be something wrong with his human. He presses lightly on the human’s stomach and he can hear the man groan ever so softly. He does it again and once more, making note of the noises he makes. Maybe he's sick, Darren sometimes makes weird groaning noises when he's sick and the best thing is when his mom comes back with a fresh bit of yellow tang for him to eat. Makes him feel so much better. Yes, that's clearly what this human needs, just a bit of fish. In a flash, Darren is diving back under the water and swimming out of the grotto to find a nearby school of fish to hunt. 

When he actually comes to, Chris is alone. 

Alone and... naked. Okay. That's different. But it’s alone and naked and _alive_ , which trumps the alternative. He can still hear the rain pounding against the rocks over his head and the only light filtering in is weak, so he doesn't think he's been out that long. He sits up, head still making him feel woozy, and finds his clothes piled beside him. They're soggy and cold and the idea of putting them on is unpleasant. 

"Hello?" He calls out, his voice echoing. No one answers.

It takes Darren longer than he wants to admit to catch a tang. His mother is much better at it than he obviously is. Huffing, he carries the wriggling fish back in his hands and when he surfaces back in his grotto he spots his human awake and sitting up. 

" _Hello!_ " Darren calls out loudly, his voice resonating against the rocks. 

Relief jolts through Chris when he spots a man popping his head up from the water. He's... okay, kind of got a weird hair thing going on with the streak of blue, but Chris lives in San Francisco. It's not even the strangest look he's seen this morning. Plus, this guy pulls it off. He's smiling and friendly and Chris suddenly remembers seeing him before, just after he first fell. Knowing how he got into this little spot makes him feel better. 

At least until the man starts to talk to him. His voice is - well, he's singing, there's no other way Chris can describe it. The sound curls around him, beautiful but nonsensical. "Um, hi?" Chris says. 

Darren cocks his head to the side. The human is making an odd, very brief noise. "Um, hi," Darren parrots back easily. 

"Oh, thank god." Chris leans back against a cool, damp rock to support himself. "How far from land are we? Do you have a boat or something? I don't think I can swim back in this condition, but I'll pay you if you want money. I think I still yeah - yeah, okay." 

Chris finds the waterproof pouch he'd stuck in his pockets to hold his used rolls of film and spare cash. This is not the first time he's accidentally fallen in while trying to balance and get a great shot. 

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Darren repeats before giggling. He swirls his tail in the water and gets closer, leaning more of his body out of the water. The man has hair that reminds Darren of the dunes of the shore and he leans down, tipping the mans head back so he can look into his eyes. Darren smiles wider; they're the same lovely blue-green hue of the ocean in the morning. His human is quite certainly the prettiest human there is and Chuck is going to be green with jealousy. 

" _You're so very pretty. Probably one of the prettiest things I have ever seen,"_ Darren says, fingers running over the man's face. _"I'll take good care of you though. I'm very good at taking care of things. I'll make sure you have as much fresh fish as you want and shells full of cool water and even get you some new pieces of shell for a necklace."_

"Whoa, that's - what is your range even? And people said I had a unique voice..." Chris mutters the last part to himself. The guy is still staring at him, unnervingly close. Is this flirting? Is it supposed to be flirting? "Um, I suppose I should know the name of the guy who rescued me. And um, undressed me." 

Darren cocks his head to the other side. His human sounds so _funny_. The fish in his hand wriggles, reminding him that it is there. "Oh!" He pulls his hand up, pulling the fish out of the water and offering it to the human. " _This is for you to make you better."_

Chris jerks back at the sight of a still wiggling fish. "Oh, god, what - _what?"_

Darren frowns and leans forward, pushing the fish closer to the man. " _For you. Make you better. Tang always makes me feel better. Yum yum. Eat!"_

"Look, I'm as big a fan of sushi as the next guy, but I can't - that's a live fish, what do you expect me-" Chris stares helplessly. He's beginning to wonder if this was so lucky after all. Apparently he's been rescued by a lunatic.

His human won't take the fish and finally Darren releases it, letting it swim back under the water and away. _"Would you prefer a fresh squid? There are some swimming not far from here. Would that make you better? You need to eat Human."_ Darren continues to talk, reaching out to brush the hair off of the man's face and to check to make sure his eyes are still clear. 

Chris lets him because he's not sure if sudden movements are advisable when in the presence of a nutcase, but the touch when it comes is gentle and even soothing. The guy is staring at him again, right into his eyes in a way people almost never do. "What is your name?" Chris asks again, in a softer voice.

Darren is growing frustrated because he doesn't know what his human is saying and how is he supposed to care for him if he can't understand him. 

_"You make such odd, quick noises. What are you saying...?"_ Darren puts his hands on either side of the man's cheeks and pushes, making him purse his lips. Darren giggles, amused by how his human looks like that. 

"-this is ridiculous-" Chris says, almost laughing. The guy's face lights up at that, and his grin... his grin is beautiful. He darts back suddenly something so odd about his movement. Chris isn't expecting it and topples forward, woozy enough from what he's pretty sure now is a concussion that his balance is fucked. He almost dips into the water and the sharp movement makes his head throb. He curls in on himself again, making more pained sounds. 

_"No, no, my pretty human,"_ Darren coos softly. He moves back in closer, leaning down in the water until he's eye level with where his human is curled up on the soft sand. He pets a hand over the hair of his human and begins to sing softly, looking in his eyes to make sure they're still clear and bright with understanding (how _smart_ his human must be!). 

"'s pretty," Chris says, voice slurring slightly. "Sing pretty." Chris closes his eyes and breathes, tries to focus himself. 

Darren's human is starting to slip away and it's making Darren panic. " _Human, human do not sleep,"_ he urges, reaching out to try and rouse him.

"Sleep," Chris mumbles, because wow... he's tired, all of a sudden, and maybe a nice nap is all he needs. "'m gonna... just give minutes..." He settles onto his side, the rock cold against his face but the discomfort doesn't last for long before he's passed out again.

Darren attempts everything he knows to get the human to wake again but nothing works. He begins to really panic to try and save his human but the human sleeps on. Finally, afraid that he's damaged this human somehow, Darren gathers him up in his arms and swims him out of the Grotto. He knows a place not far from where the humans like to gather and he's sure he can get his human there quickly. 

The rain has stopped, meaning more humans will be out soon. Good for his own human but bad for him. Darren swims up against the air, making sure his human can still breathe (a terribly unuseful thing, not having gills) before he makes it to the right beach. He can hear humans far off and he gently lays his human out on the shore before slipping back a bit. He calls out loudly to the humans, calling for help and he hears a dog bark and come running before he quickly flashes back into the water. 

* 

Chris wakes up in the hospital. The nurses tell him he's lucky - he had a nasty concussion that could have led to something much more serious than wounded dignity over showing up naked on the beach. Chris is intensely grateful whoever found him just dropped him off and he doesn't have to face them after they'd carried him bare-assed inside. 

When he's finally released he goes home to his apartment (lavish, but why the fuck not - it might be mind numbing but he gets paid very well to be top photographer at the magazine) and takes the painkillers they give him and sleeps for a solid day. He wakes up long enough to call his boss and eat a slice of four day old pizza and then crawl back in bed. 

On the third day he wakes and feels somewhat close to human again. He dresses and heads to his favorite coffee shop, getting his usual drink (chai - he never quite got the hang of coffee) and a breakfast sandwich that he waits until he's at the beach to eat. 

He's not sure why he's here, really... except that he swears he had the strangest dreams while he was hurt and he can't get them out of his head. He knows it's a risk and he's an idiot for it, but he walks the same path he had before. At least this time it's a bright, sunny day - no rain threatening at all and he can see where he's stepping just fine. He keeps going until he sees the cluster of rocks the otters enjoy and smiles at the little one, familiar to him through visiting here so many times before. 

Then he sees something else - a small pile that he has to go investigate. 

It's his clothes - well, his pants, and the waterproof pouch he kept his things in. He unzips it and finds his ID, some cash, and the rolls of film still in it. The camera itself, the one he'd been using that day, is gone of course... but at least he has something back. 

Chris lingers for another hour, just sitting and watching the otters and occasionally staring down at the pile next to him as if he thinks it might just disappear into thin air. 

It doesn't, of course, and he takes his pants and the bag home with him. He jerks off and then takes a nap and orders dinner in and it's just past eight pm when he finally pulls out the the film. He thinks about getting them developed, and then decides there's nothing really accomplished by having mementos of the day when he was an idiot and took a nosedive onto some rocks. 

He tosses it into a drawer on his desk and shuts it, determined to just forget about the whole thing. 

Of course, it doesn't work. 

*

Darren has taken to swimming near where he found his human every day. He won't tell Chuck _why_ (Chuck would just make fun of him anyways) but he just waits. Every morning he sets out a few things, just some of the things he has from his human, he doesn't want to lose all of them. He keeps an eye out, occasionally making noises if the wrong types of people come up and try to take his things. 

But finally his waiting pays off and Darren catches a view of his human, looking much better than he had when Darren dropped him off. 

Originally, Darren told himself this was just to make sure the man was doing okay but now... Now that he knows... Darren finds himself out the next morning, this time with a pair of large flipper like things his human had on the bottom of his fins. He sets them down on the rocks and this time adds one of his own necklaces. its not his favourite one, he still has that one saved, but it does have one of his favourite shells in it. 

*

Chris is pretty sure the shoes are ruined, but he doesn't even care. 

He's fascinated by the necklace. He can't even tell what the string is - not twine or leather, like is popular around here, but something resilient. The shells are glossy and almost unreal in how picture-perfect they are, except for a little chip on one of them. 

He's not the type of guy that wears necklaces, but he still puts it on. 

Darren's tail twitches and he spins in the water as he watches his human put on the necklace. He'll have to come up with something for tomorrow. For now he watches as his human walks away, still looking curiously down at his necklace. 

On shore, Darren can hear the sounds of humans talking and he catches a few words that sound like what his human said. Curious, he swims over near one of the docks and can hear two men talking to each other. Darren has no idea what's being said but he rests himself near one of the wooden supports and just listens, seeing if he can learn any of the language.

"Yeah, so Joe, he says his wife wants to take this trip to Philly to visit her sister, and you know what Joe's gonna spend that whole damn weekend doing?" The first man says, voice rising to be heard as he hauls boxes over to a waiting truck. 

"What?" The second one asks, busy with his own work. "Hey, Rico, grab that one-" 

Rico grabs the box from Joe and hoists it up, grunting. "Gonna spend that whole damn time in the gay bars, cause that's what he's got going on on the side. I saw him there last week with his arm around a drag queen. They looked awfully cozy."

"Gay bar...." Darren says slowly, holding out the vowels to make the phrase a bit more lyrical than it is in the mouths of the men above him. "Gay bar!" He says again, pleased with himself. He turns his attention back to the men above, listening to what they're saying again. 

"So he's gonna get a little dick on the side," one of the men says before laughing to himself. 

"Dick on side," Darren repeats to himself as well. "Gay bar. Dick on side!"

The truck is packed up only a few minutes later and the pier stays empty until a woman with a couple of kids and a baby in her arms shows up. The children, old enough to have a little freedom, run to dangle their feet in the water while the mother sits with the baby on her lap cooing at it. "Can you say _beach_?" She says, and then points off at the sand near them. "We call that the beach." 

The baby gurgles and makes a sound that could vaguely be interpreted as beach. 

"Beeeaaaach," Darren says quietly to himself. "Beach. Beach beach beach beeeaaaach." He sounds the word out, saying it long and then quick. The human language is a very interesting, quick language indeed. 

She cycles through a handful of other words to the gibbering toddler, who copies her sometimes and sometimes doesn't. She and the baby walk to the edge of the pier, the baby waddling beside her on chubby legs while she makes sure she has a good grasp on him. "Out there, that's the ocean. Can you say ocean?" 

Darren looks at the water. His people have so many words for his home and what surrounds them and these humans use one word? He repeats it out loud, making sure to keep quiet so that the woman won't hear him. 

"And the fish! Ooh, do we see the fishes jumping! Look at the fishes!" She points out to a school of fish jumping.

"Fishes!" Darren repeats happily. He watches the fish jumping and his own stomach growls. He's been listening to the language for awhile and decides he deserves a bit of good job dinner. Pushing away from the wooden support structure, Darren chases after the school of fish. 

* 

Chris is back to work, and so behind that he doesn't have time for any non-work related photography for the rest of the week. He finds himself wanting to drive out to that spot a few times anyway but he forces himself not to. 

Someone probably just found his clothes, he tells himself. (Except that the shoes weren't there the first day, and were the second.) 

The necklace probably came from some hippie who lost it when he wiped out on a wave, he tells himself. (Except that it doesn't seem big enough to come off accidentally, and it's still an unbroken circle.) 

He didn't see anyone when he passed out, he tells himself. (Except that someone took him from the rocks to the beach half a mile away.) 

There was no little cave, and no man with the blue in his hair, he tells himself. (Except that in his dreams he sees him perfectly.) 

*

Darren comes everyday to these rocks to check for his human but everyday he is not there. Frustrated, he turns back to the docks and the piers, hanging around the wooden pillars to listen to humans communicating with each other while he can keep an eye on the rocks where he found his human. 

Darren has a quick mind, it only takes a few days of frequenting the human areas before he's able to pick out words and phrases that are familiar to him. With a couple more days around the docks, Darren is able to string together sentences on his own. He delights in being able to speak Human. Their language feels so quick and sharp in his mouth, so different from his own mer language. Darren knows that if he were to save his human now, he would be able to communicate flawlessly with him. 

He keeps hoping that he will run across him, that Darren will be able to pick his voice out from among the other squawking human voices. Darren is sure that it will sound different than any of the others and he will recognize it immediately. In his mind, Darren plays out a touching reunion where he is able to sweep his human off to his cove, showing him the wonders of the sea and he will be able to keep him there nice and safe among Darren’s other treasured possessions. 

But first, Darren has to find him again. 

*

It's been a week exactly. 

Chris brings breakfast on Saturday morning, and half a loaf of bread gone stale to feed the seagulls, and whatever else might want a bite. He brings his camera, a replacement for the one he lost in the water, and his cell phone - also a replacement, though it's not like he invests a lot in them. He doesn't get many calls. Even his mother just emails after so many years of him never answering. 

He doesn't really have many friends in this city. He's got coworkers that either treat him with disdain or pretend to be his best friend in hopes that it will get him somewhere. He's got clubs he can go to for short term attention and affection, but most often that just seems like too much trouble for a fuck. He's got his boss, but their socialization is limited to the occasional work related event and sometimes hiding out in her office to avoid everyone else. 

He doesn't have a person, though. He doesn't have anyone to really call his own. 

He slumps forward, knees drawn up to his chest and chin resting on his hands. He's lonely. 

He shouldn't even be here, Chris thinks. He'll just fall and bust his head or his ass or somehow maybe this time he'll manage both. But he can't think of anywhere else he'd rather be, either. 

He takes off his shoes and sets them on a wide, flat rock beside him. The water is cool when he dips his toes in and he sighs, eyes shutting. He immediately flashes back to what must be a dream, but feels like a memory - cool mossy walls around him and a voice singing in his ears. 

Darren slowly makes his way towards the rocks, a starfish in hand and a few of his humans tin rolls when he stops, surprised to see the outline of a human sitting on the rocks so early. It isn't unusual to see them in the morning but this spot it isn't common as some of the more public locations. Darren swims closer and almost drops his presents in surprise when he recognizes the profile and realizes it is his human. He looked better last week but today something looks wrong with him. Darren swims closer, the sand bank beginning to rise steadily towards the surface as he get's closer to the beach. 

Darren is so close to his human he could reach out and touch him if he wants to. He won’t though. Darren doesn't want to scare his human off and he knows how sensitive and shy these creatures can sometimes be. Luckily, he’s prepared this time. 

"Hello good day this is morning," Darren says, very proud of himself. 

"Fuck!" Chris yelps, scrambling back. "Oh my god, it's - it's you! You're real!" 

"Hello how are you I am well," Darren continues, preening in front of Chris. His tail swishes behind him, stirring up the water and sand beneath him. 

Chris laughs, but it's a relieved laugh. He has no idea what kind of accent this guy has, but it's actually kind of pretty. "I'm... fine. And you're not from around here, are you? Chris. I'm Chris." He points to himself to demonstrate. "And I believe I owe you a thank you." 

There are some words that Darren isn't sure he understands but his human is smiling at him and it is such a _pretty_ smile. "Chris?" He repeats, moving a bit closer until he's able to rest his arms on the rocks his human is sitting on. "Chris."

Darren holds out his presents. 

Chris’s eyes go wide. “Oh, those are mine - wow, I assumed they were lost, that’s so… thank you.” 

Chris puts them in the small bag he’s brought with him, using one of the waterproof side pockets. Darren is still just staring at him, smiling so hopefully. It makes Chris… happy. Confused, a little, but happy. "What's your name? I mean - you have seen me naked already, I usually get at least a name before we're that level."

There are so many words Darren isn't sure about just yet, but he thinks he knows what is being asked. "Chris," he says, reaching out and touching his human’s chest. "Darren," he says, touching his own chest.

"Darren? You're Darren? Well, it's lovely to meet you, Darren." Chris holds his hand out, expecting Darren to shake it.

Darren looks at Chris's hand, not sure what to do with it. He looks at it interestingly before reaching out and just taking it in his hand and holding on to it. 

"Oh. Or we can do that." Chris looks down at their hands. "Well, thank you - for saving me last week. I would have drowned without you." 

Darren smiles, just looking at Chris. He rubs his thumb over the back of Chris's hands, watching him. _"You're pretty,_ " he says happily. He reaches out and touches the shell necklace Chris has around his neck, breaking into a bright smile. 

"Where are you from?" Chris marvels. "I've never heard an accent like yours before." He starts to pull back when Darren reaches forward, until he realizes what Darren is doing. Chris touches the necklace too, but in a different spot, suddenly bashful. 

"It's yours, isn't it?" Chris asks. "Did you leave it for me?"

"For you," Darren agrees nodding quickly. "For Chris!" Darren is so happy to have his human back and talking to him now. He reaches out and brushes his fingers through Chris's hair. 

_"You're so pretty, do you know that?"_ Darren asks him quietly, not speaking in Chris's language as he doesn't have all the words he wants. _"I've seen so many humans recently and listened to them talk just to speak to you but none of them looked at all like you."_

Chris feels like Darren's voice is hypnotizing him. "You're _singing,_ how is that... I don't know that song, but it sounds..." 

Familiar. It sounds like the whale song he'd heard during one of his deep sea shoots when he worked on a project with a marine life center, photographing for their educational brochures. It sounds like a small part of something far more complex, but what he does hear is gorgeous. 

Darren's fingers trace along the side of Chris's face, down his neck before dropping off. He grins impishly up at Chris and gives his hand a tug. Chris sitting up on the rocks is boring. Darren wants to pull him into the water and play. 

"Oh, I'm really not the best swimmer," Chris insists, shaking his head. 

"Come on," Darren insists tugging again. "I help you. Come. Ocean." Darren offers as charming a smile as he knows how. "Come," he says again with a tug of the hands. 

"I am not dressed for a dip in the water," Chris insists. "And I think we've already proven how not buoyant I can be."

Darren's face falls. His human won't come and play with him. He drops Chris's hand and isn't sure what to do now if Chris won't come with him. 

"Oh no, no. Don't give me the puppy eyes." Chris sighs. "Fine, just - hold on." He stands on shaky legs and manages to strip his t-shirt and his pants off. He keeps the underwear on, though it'll be an uncomfortable drive back. 

He looks down at the water and lowers himself to sitting again, then holds his hand out to Darren. "You're taking full responsibility for my safe return again, I hope you realize." 

The hand out to him makes Darren smile _hugely_ at Chris. "Yes," he agrees. "Yes, come," Darren agrees. "Mine," he assures Chris, sliding his hand into Chris's before gently pulling him down and into the water. 

Chris splashes into the water and momentarily panics, grabbing his hands out and settling one on Darren's shoulders. "Oh, god. This is new." 

Darren is so proud of his human, so proud of him for doing this and coming with him. He begins to swim out a little further from the rocks, pulling Chris with him and settling his own hands on Chris's waist. He continues to swim them out, wanting Chris to be out where the otters swim and play and to show him everything that he loves about the ocean, but he can feel Chris stiffening, growing nervous. 

"Come, with me," he adds encouragingly. His hands run down to Chris's legs, an incredibly inefficient way to get around in the water. He pulls Chris's legs forward, encouraging Chris to wrap them around his waist. Darren can easily swim both of them. 

"This does not seem safe," Chris says, worry starting to squirm inside of him. "I can't - really, I'm not too heavy-" 

Darren smiles with kind of a dumb puppy expression on his face and Chris gives in, putting his legs around Darren, He feels a prickling at his thighs and almost jerks away. 

"What are your swim shorts made out of? That's so weird."

Darren's smile is still wide as he continues to pull them out further. The cove they are in helps keep the waves from growing too large and toppling them. It's just perfect for helping his human learn how to trust the ocean. 

"Shh," Darren says, turning slightly so Chris can see where a group of otters are now playing. They are diving and swimming and sliding all around each other, bodies slick and moving easily against one another. 

"Oh, my god," Chris says, delighted with the sight. "I wish I had my camera for this." 

He's seen the otters playful on the shore but it's nothing compared to how amazing it is to watch them all in the water. 

"Come," Darren urges, swimming them over to the otters. He can feel Chris's hesitancy in how he's stiff against Darren’s body but Darren wraps an arm around Chris, holding on to him closely. "Safe," Darren says quietly. "With me. Mine." He pets Chris's hair back before turning back to the otters. They've swum over to check them out. One of the otters swims over to them, rolling and diving around them before the others follow, involving them in their play. 

Chris has always felt kind of cool because the otters will play within twenty or thirty feet of him, showing they recognize that he isn't a threat. He feels downright silly for that now, seeing how Darren can swim right into the middle of them and they don't flinch or scatter or squeak their displeasure. "Fuck, you're like an ocean whisperer," Chris says, laughing. He's too busy being amazed to even feel uncomfortable that he's got his legs wrapped around a hot guy who can barely understand what he's saying. 

Darren takes Chris's hand in his, holding on to it, their fingers laced together as he reaches out in the water. One of the otters rolls and swims over, curling itself around Chris's hand. "For Chris. Play."

"Oh my god!" Chris's laugh is high and delighted. "This is so amazing, did you train them to do this?" Then he doesn't say anything, too busy watching and feeling the warm little body slide against his hand. 

When the otter finally swims away Chris looks back over at Darren and says, "Thank you." 

Darren smiles at Chris. His human is so pretty and sweet, the most perfect human around. _"You're so pretty,"_ he says quietly, a bit in awe. _"Most humans don't look like you, don't look as pretty like you do._ " Darren leans in and nuzzles against Chris's neck, breathing him in. He's pleasantly surprised by how Chris smells, like fresh air, wild and free and biting when it whips past the ocean. 

Abruptly Chris remembers that it's been a _long time_ since he's been this close to an attractive mostly naked man. He's dizzy with the sudden rush of blood when Darren rubs against him like that, even if it's just his neck. "This is like the beginning of really weird porn," Chris says, but he sinks his fingers into Darren's hair. It's surprisingly soft for how wild it is. 

Chris's fingers in his hair feel _amazing_ and Darren doesn't stop himself from nuzzling in closer, pushing his head back into Chris's hand, demanding more from his fingers. His arm tightens around Chris's body, pulling him in close and tight until their bodies are pressed flush against one another. 

"So, this might be very forward of me," Chris says, turning his face so his nose brushes Darren's temple. "But you've shown me such a good time, would you let me return the favor?" He'd never use such a cheesy line on someone that actually understood what he was saying. 

Darren tilts his head back to see Chris better. His eyes are drawn to Chris's lips, how pretty and soft they look and he tries to focus on what Chris is saying. "Good time..." Darren repeats, smiling. 

This time Chris recognizes that it's just repetition. He smiles sadly. "I'm hitting on a guy that doesn't understand English. Fuck, tell me where you're from at least? Can you?" 

Darren recognizes enough that Chris's voice has changed, his smile dimming. "From?" He repeats back to Chris. There are a few words that he didn't understand but he does catch that one. 

"Where were you born? Where did you grow up? What country? Are you from like, Sweden or something? Switzerland? Somewhere across the ocean?" Chris asks. 

There is a word there that Darren recognizes and he says it back excitedly, "Ocean!" His human just seems more disappointed and Darren frowns deeper. "Gay bar?" He offers because that one made the guys last week laugh.

"... Well I guess that answers one question," Chris says, amused. "Of course you'd know what a gay bar is even though you can barely tell me your own name. Fuck, I bet they eat you alive in there. Or... maybe you eat them alive." Chris shifts a little, his legs getting sore from being wrapped around Darren. 

Chris seems amused again and smiling, Darren definitely likes that. He likes when his human is smiling at him. 

Darren can feel Chris moving against him and his body responds. He groans softly and arches into Chris beginning to rub his body against his. He's never done this with a human, never really thought about it before but _Chris_... this human is different. 

"Oh my god, please tell me you're carrying an emergency flashlight with you," Chris says, gasping. He pushes away a little, though he's still smiling. "No, come on, I can't - I can't just, with you, like this, okay? I need to at least feel like I'm not totally taking advantage." 

He isn't sure why he keeps talking, knowing Darren can't understand him. 

Chris points back to the shore. "Back?" 

Darren looks back at the shore and then back to Chris. "I want... show you my place," Darren says carefully. He's taken Chris to his grotto before but he's pretty sure Chris was too sick to remember any of it. 

Chris is surprised. "Okay, so maybe you understand more than I thought." He glances over at the shore. His phone is still there, but... it's not like he's got a fancy smart phone or anything, and if someone swipes it he has plenty of money to replace it with. "Well, then. Let's go see yours." 

Darren holds on to Chris as he slowly swims them both towards his grotto. It takes longer, moving so his body is enough out of the water so Chris can breathe.

"Deep breath," Darren instructs as they get closer to the rocky crags that make up the outside of his grotto. 

Chris realizes he's been here before. There's momentary fear as Darren takes him deeper and Chris realizes there's something very off about the way Darren is swimming. The water moves around them unlike any movement Chris has ever felt when in a pool or swimming with someone. Darren's whole body ripples with it but Chris isn't in a position to ask so he just holds on tighter until they break free of the water. 

He comes up coughing slightly, and then looks around. On a sandy shelf is a small collection of things, including his shirt. "I was here before!" 

Darren beams. He has his human back with him and he _remembers_ and it is exactly how Darren wants it. 

"Yes!" Darren agrees, nodding. "Here, with me." He lets Chris stand and explore the cavern, watching Chris as he sinks back into the water.

"You really did save my life," Chris says, turning and sitting. "Can you - come join me? Sit with me?" Chris shyly pats the spot beside him. 

Darren looks at the spot beside Chris. The sandy ledge is just under the water, about an inch of water above where Chris is sitting. His legs hang off the sandy ledge and into the deeper ocean Darren is swimming in. Darren has never tried to sit before, not on that ledge anyways. There is, however, a deeper bank that he can swim up on and then slide himself alongside to be next to Chris. 

Nodding, Darren swims up on to the steep bank, sliding onto the same sandy ledge that Chris is sitting on. He isn’t sitting, he is laying on his stomach with his tail behind him flowing down into the dark water behind him. He rests his forearms on the sand, keeping his upper body above the water and able to look up at Chris beside him. Behind him, the fins of his tail flick slightly up out of the water, tossing a few droplets around. He can’t really sit like Chris can, but this does let him be right beside him.

"Darren..." Chris stares down at the fin peeking out of the water a few feet away from where Darren is awkwardly laying, half in and half out. "What is that?" 

Darren turns a bit to see the fins of his tail above the water. He flicks them back and forth, using them to sort of wave at Chris. 

"Fin." He grins back at Chris and wiggles his eyebrows, his tail fins wiggling in time. 

"Darren." Chris says it slowly. "Is that... attached to you? Is that your fin?" 

It takes Darren a bit longer to understand what Chris is asking. He looks back at his fin and reaches out, running over it. "Fin. My fin," he says quietly, the tail flicking again. 

"Holy shit." Chris rubs his eyes. "Did I fall again? Is this a hallucination? Are you - what _are_ you?" He looks at Darren in wonder. 

" _Sireno_ ," Darren answers happily. He isn't sure what the word is in Chris's language, he's never heard one of the other humans say anything like what he is. He sits up a bit higher so Chris can see more of his tail. 

"Si-reno?" Chris tries to copy him but the word is clumsy in his mouth, not at all like it sounds when Darren says it. "Holy shit. That is a tail. That is definitely a tail. Please tell me this is some kind of elaborate costume. Or maybe _don't_ tell me that." 

Chris loved _Harry Potter_ as a kid; he thrived on fantasy and fairytale, at odds with his pragmatic sensibilities. Though he needs to be skeptical, something inside him that hasn't sparked in a long time, is jumping for joy at this possibility. 

Darren picks up Chris's hand in his own and tugs on it, bringing Chris closer to him before he places Chris's hand low on his tail, on the scales that ripple just under the water. 

Chris is almost afraid to touch. The scales are silky, not slimy, and softer than he expects. He presses harder and there's almost a flesh-like consistency to them. "Is that okay?" He asks, checking.

"Good," Darren murmurs quietly, feeling Chris's fingers begin to explore. He shivers and begins to hum, singing to himself as Chris's fingers slip slide down lower on his tail. He flicks his fins, wiggling them at Chris to make him smile. 

The fins make a little splash and Chris laughs. "You're a mermaid. Merman? I'm not sure what the politically correct term is." Chris rambles on a little, just enjoying the smile on Darren's face. "A merman saved my life. No one would ever believe that." 

"Mermaid," Darren tries, repeating the word back. "Mermaid!" His tail flicks the water, making a splash as he looks back up to Chris. "Tao," he says, pointing to Chris. "Mermaid," he adds, pointing to himself.

"Chris, human. Darren, mermaid." Chris repeats in english, nodding approvingly. He looks at Darren. "So when you sing - you're really talking, aren't you? I just can't understand you. But you can understand me some, so... are you... learning? English?"

"Mmm," Darren hums. _"I wish I knew more of what you were saying. I wish you knew how to sing at all and we could talk better. I want to talk to you Chris. My pretty, pretty two-legger."_

[full art by jacarfanda here](http://jacarfanda.tumblr.com/post/102923618707/merman-darren-and-human-chris-for-ccbb-large)

Chris manages to get closer to Darren, splaying his palm wide this time and stroking down with a more generous touch. He's keeping to safe places, he thinks - where a hip would be, if Darren were a human, and then up to the place where scales give away to skin. Both feel good to touch.

Darren moans softly and rolls over on his back. He moves to rest his head on Chris's lap and smiles, gazing up at him. He likes having his scales pet and it's been ages since someone else has helped him groom them. 

"Hello there," Chris says, smiling a little. Darren grins up at him. He keeps petting, caressing and feeling. "Are you just always happy? Hell, I guess I would be if I had your life. Why don't we trade?" 

Darren reaches up and touches Chris's cheek. "You're eyes look like the sea in the morning. So full of promise of the next day," He murmurs. He twitches and moves into Chris's hand, arching and enjoying how good his fingers feel. 

"You know, it really isn't fair that you're learning my language and I don't even know where to begin learning yours." Chris sighs. "Except... _sir-eno_?" He tries to remember what Darren had called himself earlier. 

Darren nods eagerly. " _Sireno_ ," he repeats. He reaches up to push at Chris's cheeks. " _Sireno_."

Chris tries again but the way Darren is laughing at him and still poking at his cheeks tells Chris he's got a superbly shitty mermaid accent. He accepts it without offense - his Spanish is pretty awful, too. "This place... is your home?" 

He gestures around so Darren understands he means the grotto.

Darren thinks about what home is. He knows the word and his home is his place in the water with his family: his mother and father and Chuck but this is something different. He shakes his head. "Not place but.... mine," he finally comes up with. 

Chris thinks he understands. "Your real home is probably underwater, isn't it? Well, that makes sense. Though it means I'm definitely not picking you up at your doorstep on our first date. We'll just have to agree to meet somewhere. Maybe at the _gay bar_?" 

Now he's not actually sure Darren even knows what it means. 

Darren grins and giggles. He has no idea what a gay bar is but that its obviously something amusing. "Gay bar!" He agrees. "Drag queen, yes," he adds, remembering that was part of the gay bar.

Chris laughs even harder. "Oh, no. You'd be a waste as a drag queen. Though, with that hair..." He reaches up and tugs again. 

"Hair?" Darren asks, reaching up to find what Chris is holding on to. He reaches out for Chris's, tugging on the soft strands on his head. "Hair." He says again, feeling more sure of himself. now. " _Buhok_ ," he instructs, tugging again. 

" _Buhok_. Hair." Chris says, still unable to sing it like Darren is but trying. He moves down Darren's face, tapping his finger against each thing as he says it. "Nose, lips, chin." 

"Nose, lips, chin," Darren repeats, pointing them out on Chris's face at each. " _Ilong, labi, baba."_

"Chest, stomach... tail." Chris draws his fingers over the scales again, with the grain. 

Darren repeats what Chris says before going back to Chris and pointing to his chest and saying " _Dibdib, tiyan, buntot_ ," as he drew his finger down Chris's chest and stomach and over the band of his boxers.

Chris sucks in a breath. "Oh, now we're getting intimate." He stops, tilting his head with dawning horror. " _Can_ you even get intimate? I mean, is this some - female lays eggs, you come behind and fertilize thing?"

Darren doesn't know what Chris is saying now. He doesn't explain what he's talking about and point to on Darren's body. Instead Darren tugs at the loose skin around Chris's waist, giggling when it pulls away and starts shedding. 

"Tail?" He asks, tugging on the skin again. 

Chris shakes his head. He grabs Darren's hand and draws it down, over his shorts and to his knee, fitting Darren's fingers around the rounded kneecap. "Legs. Humans have legs, no tail."

Darren's fingers curl around Chris's knee as he repeats the word. He's never touched a human before and their legs are particularly interesting. He runs his fingers up the inside and then down on the other side giggling and taking in the difference. _"They're so interesting. How do you get around on these? Don't you fall over on them?"_

Darren looks amused by the concepts of legs. He pokes and rubs and squeezes harder, making Chris jump and kick his leg out. "Tickles!"

"Tickles!" Darren taunts back, leaning over Chris as he runs a hand down to where Chris has interesting flippers. "Fin," he says, playing with one of the small fins there. 

"Feet," Chris corrects him. He wiggles his toes just to see what Darren will do.

Darren laughs as he watches, clearly delighted. "Feet," he agrees, turning his head to watch as he wiggles his own fins just like Chris had wiggled his feet. 

The water laps around them from Darren flapping his fins, making waves. "Okay, yours are a little more impressive, fine. But I can pick stuff up with mine, so there." 

Darren just smiles at Chris before twisting his fins, flicking water right over at Chris. He laughs again when it hits Chris right in the face. 

"Oh, now you're not playing fair." Chris grabs Darren's shoulders and sort of push-rolls him off into the water. He doesn't feel bad, knowing it won't hurt Darren. 

Darren squawks but rolls himself until he's back, upright in the water. "Not playing fair," he says, folding his arms over his chest and giving Chris a look.

"Ooh, you learned _that_ phrase fast." Chris smiles, leaning forward. He holds his hands out to Darren, gesturing for Darren to pull him in the water, too. "I don't trust myself to just jump. I'm really not a good swimmer."

Darren takes Chris's hands and tugs gently, pulling Chris in close as Darren's powerful tail keeps them both above water. He wraps his arms around Chris, holding him in close. 

Chris wraps his arms around Darren a little more closely this time. "So," he asks, turning his face toward Darren's neck a little, breath blowing on water dotted skin. "Come here often?" 

Darren nuzzles his nose against the side of Chris's neck, humming happily. "Often," he agrees, not sure what exactly he is agreeing to just yet. Chris runs his hands up and down Darren's back. His skin is smooth and unblemished and warm, warmer even than the water around them. This time his legs do touch Darren's tail and he knows it for exactly what it is, no questions if his mind is playing tricks on him. 

He hugs Darren suddenly, not sure what's pushing him to but wanting to feel this magical creature real and solid and warm against him as close as he can. Darren coos softly and tightens his grip, holding Chris closer as he spins them around in the water. He likes the feel of his human in his arms and his legs wrapped around his tail. Likes how Chris is able to cling and hold on tight to him. 

It's dizzying, the way Darren can spin them so effortlessly. "Oh, god, this is perfect. I don't even care if I am dreaming." Darren sings back something Chris can't even begin to understand. 

Darren takes his time, singing one of his favourite songs as he moves them both together. It's not quite like the dancing of his people, Chris doesn't have a tail for that, but it is very similar to it. 

Chris looks up and through a little crack in the rock formation he realizes that he can see stars. "Wow, it's late, isn't it?" 

Darren looks up where Chris is looking to see the sky. " _Langit_ ," he explains, pointing up at the stars in the dark sky. 

"I should go home," Chris says. He doesn't want to, but he has to work in the morning. "Home - to my home." 

Darren's face falls a bit. He doesn't want to let go of his human, he wants to keep Chris close and with him. He just hopes that maybe, Chris will return to him another day. 

"Deep breath," he instructs again, waiting for Chris to breathe in before he holds onto Chris tightly and dives deep once more, swimming them out of the grotto.

Chris holds on tight, but there's no fear this time. It is well into night, the moon huge and round overhead, and he can see Darren even better than he had been able to in the shadowy grotto. 

Darren swims them back to the rocks Chris had been on before. Chris is relieved that all of his stuff is still right there where he left it. He lets Darren hoist him back up until he can gain purchase enough to sit. 

_"Please come back to me my pretty little two-legger_ ," Darren says softly, reaching out to touch the necklace around Chris's neck that he had left for him. "My Chris," he says again, in Chris's language this time. 

Chris smiles, reaching out for Darren's hand. "I want to give you something, to..." He struggles to think of what, and then his gaze lands on his own wrist. "Here." 

He unbuckles the wet leather cuff he's wearing and reaches out, snagging Darren's wrist and putting it on. 

"This okay?" He asks, checking before he buckles it. 

Darren looks down at his wrist, encircled in the leather from Chris's wrist. "Okay," he answers reverently, giving Chris a big smile in case it doesn't translate over well. He loves the thing on his wrist as it came from his human.

Chris has had the cuff for almost five years now and it should feel like a big deal to give it to someone he might never see again, but... he has a feeling this isn't the last time he'll find himself here. He stares at Darren for a moment longer and then sighs. "I really do need to go." 

Darren marvels down at the cuff on his wrist, turning it to look at it all. He can hear the sadness in Chris's voice, the longing there and he knows his human will be back. Placing his hands on the rock wall Chris is sitting on, Darren pushes himself up so he can lean in close to Chris. "Mine, my Chris," he says and places a kiss right on Chris's lips before he lets go and jumps back into the water, diving down. 

Stunned, Chris sits there staring at the ripples in the water where Darren just was. He raises two fingers to touch his lips and smiles. 

He'll definitely be back. 

*

It takes a week before Darren is able to see Chris again. His family, his _mother_ is asking after him, where he spends his days now that he is not annoying her. He has to shake off his brother each time he tries to make it to the surface. 

He doesn't see Chris, but he does see other humans and he starts to pick up on their language more. He listens in and takes mental notes, wanting to be able to speak to Chris next time he see's him. 

*

Chris goes back to see if Darren's waiting the next two days in a row but Darren isn't there. It saddens Chris but after a few days he also starts to wonder if it was even real. When he's assigned to a project that takes him to bumfuck Idaho to photograph some Susie Homemaker's prize winning cow or some shit like that, he goes ahead and takes it just to stay in the good graces of his bosses. 

It's a Wednesday when he walks back to the water's edge and stares for any signs. 

Darren swishes his tail in the water idly, looking up at the sky as he listens to people talking above him. He's got much better at understanding them and Darren is impatient to see Chris again and be able to speak to him this time.

Darren almost spits on water as he sits up, not expecting anything new on the horizon when instead he see's a familiar outline. He's quick darting under the ocean and swimming over to the rocky shore, not wanting to miss his human.

"Chris!" He says, head popping out of the water. "Hello!"

"Darren!" Chris grins. He's come prepared today - phone and the rest of his stuff safely locked in his car, swim-worthy shorts on. He still sits first, though, letting Darren come over to him. "I was afraid you wouldn't be around here again." 

"I'm always here," Darren teases. He's proud of his English, even if he still has an amusing accent.

"Wow, that was an actual sentence. Have you been practicing or were you just holding out on me before?" Chris asks, swishing his feet back and forth. 

"I learn fast," Darren replies, grinning and very proud of himself.

"Clearly you do. Well, that's good - I don't think I'll be picking up your language any time soon. Four semesters of spanish and all I can say is enchiladas, por favor." Chris grins. "Is English just that much more simple than your language?"

."Is... Different," Darren says. "Shorter. Quicker."

"Well, you make it sound beautiful," Chris says. "How far do you have to swim to get to me? Is your home very far away?" 

He has a million questions, like how no one detects them ever - through sighting or radar or sonar or whatever technology is used for that. 

"Not far," Darren says. "Not sure how to explain you, but not far."

"Well, good. It's not far from my home to here, either." Chris watches Darren swim in lazy circles, keeping his torso upright with ease. 

"So you come to me often," Darren says slowly nodding to himself. He likes that. He likes knowing that his human will be by as much as possible. 

"I can," Chris says. "As often as you want? Do you have some kind of... job, maybe? What do you do during the day? Humans have jobs, we have to go - to get money, to pay for things, to live. Food and shelter and stuff."

"I hunt, get food, feed belly," Darren rubs over his stomach and grins ridiculously. "I make things. Sing, play with otters.”

Chris grins. "Play with the otters. Now there's a job I want. So you guys don't have any kind of currency? Do you even have families, or are you just... on your own?"

"Have family. Mother, father, brother, cousins and uncles and aunts and further aunts and further uncles and mother-mothers and father-fathers," Darren explains. "Lots family."

"Oh, wow. So are there whole villages of you down there?" Chris asks. 

"There are... many," Darren answers. He isn't sure of the exact number to explain it to Chris but hopes that it conveys enough of what he's trying to say. "Where is your family?"

"They don't live near here," Chris says. "I have a mother and a father and a sister. My sister is... she's got… she can’t travel as much. They don't come here a lot, and I don't go there often. We're... not that close."

Darren frowns. He swims over to Chris, closer to him and puts a hand out on his knee. "I sorry," he says quietly, meaning it. It must be horrible for his human, to be so cut off from his family group like this. Not knowing what else to do, and wanting to comfort his human, Darren leans in and rests his head on Chris's knees. 

Chris doesn't even know what to say. He reaches down and starts to play with Darren's hair. The curls are wild but silky too, not at all tangling between his fingers like Chris would expect. "It's okay," he says softly, as if he's comforting Darren while Darren comforts him. "I'm used to it." 

"Shouldn't be from family group. Can they hear calls?" Darren asks softly, fingers petting at the soft fur on Chris's legs.

"Calls? I mean, I can call them... on my phone, damn, I left it in the car. I can bring it and show you next time. But - you don't mean phones, I assume? I can't imagine Sprint has great service underneath the ocean. Though... maybe still better than my apartment..." he muses.

"They can hear you?" Darren feels relieved knowing that Chris can still communicate with his family group. He knows that his own calls to his family do not travel through the air as well as they do in the water and it is hard to hear anyone above sea when they are not right by you. 

"Yeah, don't worry." Chris smiles. "Besides, if I get lonely, I can just come visit you, right?" 

Darren's smile is soft and happy. "Yes, yes come. Visit me Chris." He pulls back and holds his hands out and up for Chris to take.

"Where are you going to take me today?" Chris asks, taking Darren's hands and letting Darren pull him into the water. "You know, once this starts getting cold again we're going to have to think of another arrangement."

Darren frowns. He never really gets cold, not in the water. "I make you warm and good," Darren assures Chris, nuzzling into him. "What do you want? I show you my world."

“I don't think I can see your world," Chris says. "I need air - I have to breathe, to live. I wouldn't be able to breathe under the water." 

"For how long...?" Darren knows that dolphins and whales all breathe the air on the surface but they are able to dive deep and long. 

"One minute? Maybe two but that would be hard for me, I’m not used to it. There's equipment I can get, but it wouldn't make quite as fun of a trip down and I'd have to take classes on how first... it would take a while." Chris frowns. "And if it's too deep the pressure starts to mess with me, too."

Darren's brow furrows and he begins to pout. He's beginning to realize that he will not be able to keep his human with him for long periods of time. There is too much that Chris can not do and Darren doesn't wish to hurt him. "I know place close. No people go, is quiet. I take you?"

"Yeah, I want to see as much as you can show me," Chris says, dog paddling his way to Darren. "How do you want me on you this time?"

Darren knows enough of Chris's language to pick up on the potential innuendo of the phrase and Darren's grin turns gleeful as he reaches for Chris and pulls him in. "How I want you on me?" 

"Oh no, you learned how to _flirt_. I'm in trouble now." Chris is not-so-secretly delighted. 

"Is what this is?" Darren curls his hands around Chris's arms and pulls him in close, their wet chests pressed up against each others.

Chris laughs. "Flirting is... When you like someone but you don't come right out and say it, you just try to show them."

"Why you not say you like them?" Darren asks. He runs his hands down Chris's hips to his legs, tugging and encouraging Chris to wrap them tight around his body before he wraps an arm securely around Chris's waist.

"Because sometimes it's scary when you don't know if they like you back," Chris explains, drifting closer and closer to Darren until they're flush together. 

“If not tell, how you supposed to know they do?" Darren settles Chris around him, holding on. He likes the feel of Chris's legs holding on to him and wrapped around his tail. 

"You flirt with them and you see if they flirt with you back." Chris leaves out the part where he's never been very good at flirting. 

"How know they flirting with _me_." Darren likes Chris and he's not sure if he knows how to flirt with Chris, or how to tell if Chris is flirting with _him._

"When they... find little reasons to touch you. When they tease you, but in a nice way. When they can't stop looking at you. When they give you presents for no reason. When they look at you like they want to know everything about you..." Chris draws his hand down over Darren's bicep while he talks, feeling the hard muscle and warm flesh. 

Darren looks over at Chris's hand, watching as it runs over his arm and then looks back at Chris hopefully. "I've been flirting with you, yes?" 

Chris looks down sheepishly, but all he sees is water and Darren's cute little nipples, so he looks back up. "I hope so. I've been flirting with you." 

Darren grins at that. “That means you like me?"

"I liked you when I thought I was dreaming you," Chris admitted. "Before I even spoke to you." 

"You dreaming of me?" Darren _definitely_ likes how that sounds. 

"When you first found me, when I was hurt? I couldn't remember that much about it once I got better, but I remembered your face and you singing to me. I thought I must have dreamed it." Chris pushes a curl back from Darren's forehead. 

Darren nods. "You were sick. Couldn't stay awake. Something not right. Tried to help but you no eat."

"Yeah, I had a concussion - that's what we call it when you hit your head against something really hard. You took good care of me, though - aside from trying to give me a live fish, I didn't make that up, right? But you saved my life. I would have drowned and died when I passed out if you hadn't been there." Chris hugs Darren again tightly, tucking his face in against Darren's neck. 

"What's wrong with fish?" Darren asks, frowning as he holds onto Chris. His frown lifts as he feels Chris curling closer into him though. 

"We kill fish and cook it over a fire - well, most of the time." Chris decides it'll be a little too complex to describe sushi to Darren. "We don't eat it alive like that."

"Is best fresh," Darren insists. He can't imagine hunting something and taking the time to try and do other things to it. It tastes the best then and there. 

Chris laughs and pushes his fingers through Darren's hair again. He's a little bit addicted to it, and to the way Darren's eyes flutter happily when Chris pets him. "How about you eat them raw and I'll stick to my nice cooked fillets." 

Darren's eyes shut as Chris continues to play with his hair. "Whatever you want," he murmurs happily, nudging at Chris's hands when he stops. He loves fingers in his hair, massaging his scalp and making him feel so good. 

For a moment, Chris just watches Darren's face, melting inside. Then he leans in and presses their cheeks together. "You were going to take me somewhere?"

"Oh," Darren breathes, realizing that yes, he was. "Yes, you'll like," he says. "I like anyways." He grins and begins to lay back on the waves, Chris laying on top of him as his tail begins to flick and move them through the water, showing off for Chris. 

"This is so cool," Chris says, watching the water as they move through it, not too fast to be disorienting but faster than any human could swim. His face is a picture of excitement. 

Darren knows where he's going and doesn't bother to check to make sure he's going in the right direction. He knows. Instead, he just focuses on Chris's face and the excitement he can see there. He likes being the one to cause that happiness.

"Are there more friendly otters where we're going?" Chris asks, looking around. Over his shoulder, the shoreline is rapidly disappearing. 

"Maybe otters, maybe in sun on shore," Darren answers. He rounds a cape and a small, empty beach is right there ahead of them. High, rocky cliffs on all sides of the beach make it clear that the only way to make it there is swimming through the water.

Chris looks around, jaw dropping. "Darren, this is gorgeous. It looks like no one's ever even been here." Of course, Chris is sure they have, but there's no one here now. 

"It is empty mostly," Darren explains. "Hard to get to." As they swim closer, he let's Chris slide from his grasp to run up onto the sandy shore. Darren allows the surf to bring him in, laying on the beach as the waves gently crash into him, keeping his tail from getting too dry in the warm sun.

It's the first time Chris has seen Darren's tail in it's full glory. It's blue and green with streaks that look almost purple, and gold that gleams around the fin. The tail ripples with every breath Darren takes, like it's alive - and it is, it's alive and it's part of _Darren_. "Wow," Chris says, mouth going dry. "Darren, you're gorgeous." 

Darren looks up at Chris and preens at his compliments. His tail flicks into the surf and he smiles almost shyly up at Chris. "You are rather pretty too, Chris," Darren replies quietly.

"Really? You go for the scrawny two-legged look?" Chris is dubious. "You probably have mermaid girlfriends all over."

"Your hair is like the soft shores of sand at my mother's home that are warm and inviting and where I can lay and warm my tail and relax. Your eyes are same blue as sea in the morning, right before sun comes over the ocean, soft blue and full of promise, and your skin is soft and pale as bright moon that allows me to hunt and swim at night."

Chris says nothing for a few seconds, then he laughs. "You went from not speaking English to learning how to woo with your words in a week. Your brain must be an amazing place." He hopes the joke will cover the blush on his face. 

Darren isn't sure if what he said was wrong. He may have picked up Chris's language quickly but he doesn't always get what Chris _means._ Darren blushes at Chris’s laugher, he wanted to tell Chris how he was the prettiest human possible. That Chris looked as if he came straight from the ocean and everything about him looked like Darren's favorite things about the sea. 

But Darren must have messed up his translation. He didn't mean to say anything funny. 

Chris sees the hurt flash over Darren's face and realizes maybe he shouldn't have tried for flippant. Darren is so much more genuine and open than anyone Chris comes across in his daily life. "Hey," he says, grabbing Darren's hand. "Thank you. What you said - that was really nice, people don't say a lot of nice things to me. Sometimes I don't know how to respond." 

"People should always say nice things to you," Darren argues softly. "You're the prettiest human... _creature_ I've ever seen," he says quietly.

"You're sort of beautiful yourself," Chris says, leaning into Darren. He sighs and rests his head on Darren's shoulder. "I want to keep you." 

Darren shivers, the scales on his body rippling down through to his tail. "What I keep _you,"_ Darren answers back. 

Chris looks up at him, still leaning in closer. "I could deal with that," he whispers. "I mean - I'm not sure what you'd do with a two-legged thing like me, but... I'm open to ideas." 

Darren quickly topples Chris down onto the sand, curling up over him. "I think few things..." He says quietly, his tail flicking back and forth behind him. 

Chris has to move his legs quickly, leaving space for Darren to settle between them. He's surprised at the solid weight of Darren, much heavier than he looks, but it's a titillating kind of pressure all up and down his body. "Oh, hi." He lays back against the sand and wraps his arms loosely around Darren's neck. 

"Hi," Darren says back. Planting his hands on either side of Chris's head, Darren keeps them close as the water continues to break and surge around them. Darren leans down before tilting his head to nuzzle and press his nose into the crook of Chris's neck. 

Chris expects a kiss, but what he gets instead is Darren pressing against him with care, rubbing his face against Chris with intent. Chris gasps, electrified by it though on the surface it's a fairly innocent gesture. 

"You smell like sea air," Darren mumbles, his nose running up Chris's neck. "Sharp, good, wild and free."

"You smell like..." Chris turns his face into Darren's hair. "I can't even describe it, but it's amazing. Like nothing I've encountered before." 

Darren keeps his head to the side and nuzzles against Chris, enjoying the closeness. He turns his head slightly to nose at Chris's ear and his lips brush over Chris's jaw. Darren can feel him shiver under his body and he moves so he can do it again, more purposefully this time. 

"What do your people do when they meet someone they want to be closer to?" Chris asks, eyes shutting softly as he tries to will his body into behaving despite the fact that it's already decided what it wants to do. 

"Matters how close we want them," Darren answers. He pulls back enough to be able to see Chris more clearly. "How close you want me?"

"I want you to be as close as you can get." Chris lifts himself up on his elbows, putting his mouth inches away from Darren's. 

Darren's answering smile is huge. He kisses him, his lips opening Chris's mouth to immediately dip his tongue inside and taste. He groans and surges forward, wanting more. 

The first coherent thought Chris has is: he tastes good. Not like any guy Chris has ever kissed, but cool and sweet like crisp water. Darren is searching into Chris's mouth in a way that somehow still feels fluid, not clumsy or invasive. Chris is swept up in the kiss and just tries to match Darren with the depth of it. 

Darren pushes forward, sliding onto the sand and onto Chris's body as he takes control of the kiss further. One hand moves to Chris's hair, fingers tugging hard as Darren nibbles and sucks on the bottom of Chris's lip. 

Chris has never been the type of guy to let someone dominate before. Too many trust issues - he just likes the ball being in his court. But Darren isn't any other player and nothing about this situation or this man, this _creature_ , is anywhere near anything Chris can control. He finds it easier than he'd ever expected to let Darren lead. 

Darren pulls back slowly, keeping the kiss playful as he teases Chris. His tongue runs along Chris’s bottom lip and then dips into his mouth before flicking and touching at Chris's own tongue as Darren keeps Chris from deepening the kiss further. 

"This is insane," Chris says quietly against Darren's mouth but he darts back in for more quick kisses before Darren can even reply. "This is unreal." 

"Why?" Darren asks, kissing Chris back. "What is not real?"

"Just a figure of speech," Chris says, not wanting to Darren to worry over phrases he might not understand. "It's just... it's a good thing. Don't worry." He lays back and pulls Darren down over him. The feeling of Darren's tail between his thighs is strange, but not unsettling. 

It's different for both of them, but clearly not so different that their bodies don't take interest. They walk a fine line between too much and not nearly enough, but Chris is in no hurry to rush this and it seems that Darren doesn't either. 

Eventually Darren rolls off of him, looking pleased with himself and gorgeously wind-ruffled. He shimmies back to the water and Chris isn't sure if it's because that's just where he wants to be or if he actually needs it. Either way, Chris is fine with the chance to catch his breath and cool down. He hopes Darren is oblivious enough about human anatomy to ignore the tented swim trunks. He's not _completely_ hard just from making out, but he's far enough that it could be obvious. 

"What will you do when you take me back?" Chris asks, scooting down closer to the edge of the shore himself so he isn't too far from Darren. 

"Hunt," Darren says easily, taking Chris in his arms and holding him close. He enjoys having his human next to him. He's warm and his heart beats quickly and Darren loves the way he smells. "Take food to family." He takes his time swimming them back to the rock wall that Chris always meets him on. He could make the journey back quickly but... why would he when he can take his time and enjoy how Chris feels with his limbs wrapped tightly around him (especially around his tail)?

The swim back is quiet and relaxing. Chris could almost fall asleep like this, if he weren't terrified of how deep the water under him is if he let go of Darren. 

Then again, Darren would probably save him. 

Chris holds a little tighter anyway. "Do you sleep?" He asks, suddenly wanting to be able to picture it. "Where do you go?"

"I sleep," Darren answers, smiling indulgently up at Chris. "My family group has place with rocks. There is... cave. Small areas; we sleep in one. My father-mother and father-father sleeps in one next to us." Most of Darren's family group all live in the grottos and caves around him. His mother's family is much further away but they still see them on the long swims back to the home seas. 

"Father-mother and father-father?" Chris can't quite make sense of that. 

"Father of my father and mother of my father," Darren explains. "You have people as well, yes?"

"Oh!" Chris is relieved; he'd been envisioning some kind of mermaid reproduction the way seahorses do, with fathers carrying babies and mother's... well, Chris actually doesn't know that much about seahorses, but he's glad there's a simpler explanation for it. "We call them grandfather, and grandmother." 

"Ah, we call them different things but they are older people of our family group."

"So much I want to learn about you," Chris says, softly kissing Darren's shoulder where he's leaning against it. "About your family, and your life, but... mostly about you."

Darren smiles wildly. "Want tell you. I want... I show to you," Darren says sadly, with a sigh. He wishes there was a way to show Chris is world but he is aware of how fragile humans are in the water and he wouldn't want to do anything to harm Chris. 

They get to the rocky wall and Darren gently lets go of Chris, letting him swim and hoist himself back up out of the water. Darren follows behind him, resting his arms on the rock wall and looking up at Chris. "You come back?" He asks hopefully. 

"I'll be back." Chris reaches down and touches the necklace that he's still wearing, rubbing his finger over a smooth shell. 

Darren reaches up, his fingers sliding into Chris's hair as he cradles the back of Chris's skull and kisses Chris slowly and deeply. "Until," he says quietly, pulling away from Chris, licking his lips and still trying to taste Chris's mouth on his. 

* 

It's not a strange sight for Darren to be dancing and singing in the water. He doesn't even seem to care that his family fondly makes fun of him for it, nothing really gets him down. 

Chuck still has to try, though. It's his duty as a brother to do these things, especially when he's been noticing lately that Darren's singing songs of a different tone. His calls are the type a mate would send to another but they're quieter, like he knows his mate won't hear. Darren doesn’t seem sad for it, though - he's still happy, swirling the sand with his fin. 

Darren hums to himself, mentally composing his next song. He wants to make one for Chris. He knows that it won't travel far above the sea and Chris won't understand it but he hopes Chris would still get it, that he would know what it is Darren is trying to say. Or perhaps, Darren could write a song for Chris in his own human language, though that one would be infinitely more difficult. Darren is still trying to grasp the human language and he’s gotten better but he isn’t sure how their songs would sound, with the words not flowing into each other like he’s used to. 

He settles back onto the soft sand, his tail gently twisting as he continues to come up with the right melody before a shadow appears over him. He cracks an eye open and spots Chuck hovering, an expression of confused amusement on his face. "Yes, dear brother of mine?" Darren asks, expecting something from him.

Chuck swims lazy circles just above Darren. "You're calling me _dear brother_ now? Oh, I know something must be going on with you, then... what kind of mysteries and trouble are you getting yourself into, _dear brother_?"

Darren scoffs. "I'm not getting any trouble. I'm the good child, remember?" Darren smirks back up at his brother. He sticks his tongue out at Chuck and means to add something else but he just breaks off and sighs happily, unable to really keep his annoyance up. Seeing Chris makes him _happy_ , almost to the point where he can't even fight with his brother. 

"Good child? Who is the one that tried to tie together four sea turtles to make a throne? Who is the one that ate electric eel because he thought it would _tingle_? Who is the one that tried to craft a cage for the jellyfish because he thought they could glow without being near the surface to catch the sun, because he was a whiny little tadpole afraid of the night-dark? I can keep going..." Chuck laughs gleefully. 

Darren scowls and snatches up a crab walking by on the sandy floor and lobs it at Chuck's head. "I _am/ _the good child. At least, I'm the pretty one anyways," Darren adds, preening slightly. " _You're_ too busy chasing after Arista to even remember to go and hunt for food." __

__Chuck has an instant smile at the mention of Arista. "But, you, little seaweed... seem to have someone on the brain, too. Tell me, _dear brother_ , who is she?" _ _

__Darren scoffs at the idea but his blush is giving him away, faint on his cheeks but certainly bright enough for someone who knows to look for it. "I don't know what you're talking about _dear brother of mine,_ ” Darren grits out, overly sweet._ _

__Chuck settles beside where Darren is comfortably nestled, elbows on the sand and head tilted toward Darren. "Oh, come now. My day needs entertainment. Tell me all about her."_ _

__Darren crosses his arms over his chest and looks away. "Maybe I don't _want_ to talk about it." It isn't unusual for mated pairs to be of the same sex. Darren has seen a few of the pairs himself. It isn't overly common though, and Darren is hesitant to tell Chuck anything that he can use as ammunition to tease him. _ _

__"I'm wounded. You'd keep secrets from me, your _best_ brother?" Chuck is still joking, though. Darren will share in his own time, and that's fine - at least until their mother learns that her darling youngest spawn is potentially leaving the cove. _ _

__Darren rolls his eyes. "You're my _only_ brother," Darren reminds him dryly. _ _

__Chuck laughs. "I'd still be the best, even if you had a dozen. Now, stop distracting me: what color is her tail? You've always seemed partial to the reddish brown ones."_ _

__Darren squirms slightly because his beloved is neither a her nor possess a tail. "It's a sort of... a light pink-like colour," Darren starts, thinking about Chris’s legs. "Nothing really flashy or anything. Just, regular. Pink looking."_ _

__"Pink color?" Chuck lifts an eyebrow. "I don't think I've ever seen one of those. Of course, you'd find someone with the most unique tail you could."_ _

__Darren shrugs and shoots Chuck a smirk. "Of course. You should see her _fins_ ," he adds, attempting to look smug. _ _

__"Scandalous!" Chuck laughs. "Well, will I get to see them soon? Will you bring her around? Maybe I can get Arista and we can hunt together."_ _

__"Ah," Darren pretends to be thinking about it. "Well, you know how mom is," he starts shrugging. "You really think she wants me bringing a mate around? You know she'd freak out."_ _

__"She would think you're too young," Chuck admits, reaching over to pinch Darren's cheek. "Her wiggly, widdle tadpole."_ _

__Darren groans and smacks Chucks hand away. "Despite the fact I'm _not_ a tadpole anymore. I think most my age are starting to do their mating songs. You know she heard me humming in the cove the other day and swam over to warn me not to start singing too soon?"_ _

__Chuck snorts. "Well, you certainly hum in your sleep enough. Believe me, I have to sleep beside you, I know."_ _

__Darren rolls his eyes. "As if you're not sleep-singing out to Arista at all," he scoffs._ _

__"Yeah, but the difference is that I really sing to her, too. _And_ we do what comes after the song." Chuck is smug in the way that only a boy who thinks he's the ocean's gift to females can be. "And since you're blushing I assume you _haven't_ done any of that with your mystery girl." Chuck is a little relieved. His brother still seems so young to him. _ _

__"We will though," Darren responds back hotly. "And his voice is so much _better_ that Arista's he'll be _better_ than her warbling--" Darren cuts himself off when he realizes what he's said. His skin flushes and he quickly pushes up off of the floor bed to swim away. _ _

__Chuck's jaw drops, but he quickly tries to school his expression into something that won't give Darren the wrong idea. He's never considered the idea that his brother might mate with a male, but it's not like he has any negative feelings toward it. "Arista sings beautifully," he shoots back, deciding to act as though there's nothing unusual about his accidental confession. "I mean, I'm sure your fellow isn't bad, but mine’s got the best voice."_ _

__"Yeah," Darren says quietly, slumping back. Because even if Chuck is okay with him singing to another male and doesn't tease him about it, the fact is that he and Chris will never be able to sing together._ _

__"Hey, what's the matter?" Chuck asks, swimming a little closer. "You know mother and father won't care. That... um. If _he_ can't sing that well." _ _

__"I don't know if he's going to sing at all," Darren mutters quietly. "Just forget it. Don't worry about it. Did you see Arista today?"_ _

__Chuck can tell there's more going on and he hates hearing his brother sound so sad. He decides to give Darren his space, but squeezes him on the shoulder reassuringly before he makes his excuses and swims off. Maybe Arista will want to go explore..._ _

__*_ _

__Darren's spirits are lower than usual for the next few days. His mother tries to get him to talk but Darren smiles and steers the conversation away to other things each time._ _

__It takes a few more days for Darren to be able to see Chris again but his mood shoots up as soon as he spots the familiar profile against the warm morning sun. "Chris!" He shouts, waving a hand at him. "Happy to see you again." He swims quickly over to the rock wall, gazing up at him._ _

__Chris is nervous. The idea he's had, while seeming brilliant at two in the morning, now feels a little bit silly. But he's packed the basket in his arms and made it all the way here so he won't let himself back out._ _

__It's impossible not to smile when he hears Darren calling. His heart starts to beat a little faster. "Hi!" He calls back, pace quickening too._ _

__Darren looks at the basket in Chris's arms, poking at it when Chris sets it down. "What this?" He inquires, trying to get into it. He's naturally curious and this looks quite a bit like a surprise and Darren loves surprises._ _

__"It's... called a picnic. The basket has food in it. I thought - maybe, we could eat together? I know you eat fish, and I don't, so... I brought some food that I like. Which you're welcome to try." Chris smiles, opening the top of the basket and showing Darren. It's simple - sandwiches, potato salad, a bottle of Diet Coke. "I thought... we could do it here, sit here and eat, and then maybe you can take me somewhere else. Show me some more of the places you like. Well, the ones I can breathe in."_ _

__Chris stutters a little through it, his nerves showing. He doesn't mention date yet._ _

__Darren smiles gently. "I like that. Can I ... try your food?" He asks, curious about the types of food Chris likes. If he can figure out what Chris likes, maybe Darren can surprise Chris with something to court him with._ _

__"Of course," Chris says. He settles cross-legged against the lowest flat rock, the one that's just barely above the water level. He cracks open the tupperware containing his sandwiches first, and holds one out to Darren. "It's turkey... which... I guess you've never had before, being that the last I checked they don't live underwater."_ _

__Darren cocks his head and leans forward, taking a bite. It isn't at all what he's expecting. It's dry and spongy but not like an actual sponge. It tastes strange and weird to Darren. He chews thoroughly and swallows though, not wanting to insult Chris. "That... an interesting taste. What animal is turk-key?"_ _

__"It's like a big... bird, thing. We, um. Kill it. And then cut it apart, and then cook its meat over a fire. Fire is like... flame, hot. It makes things better for us to eat. If I tried to eat things raw, like you do, I'd get sick." Even if it didn't make him ill, it'd probably make him puke. But Chris leaves that part out._ _

__"Eating raw make you sick?" Darren asks, almost sadly. He can't hunt and bring Chris food to court him and Darren can't sing his mating song and have Chris sing back to him. He and Chris are just so very different._ _

__Darren sighs quietly to himself and hands Chris back the sandwich. "It is certainly different. I think I prefer my fish though."_ _

__The look on Darren's face makes Chris's stomach twist unpleasantly. "I could cook it and eat it, though," Chris says, feeling like he needs to find some kind of connection to Darren. "I do _like_ fish. It just needs a little more preparation for me." _ _

__Darren smiles at that. He knows Chris is trying and he appreciates it. "Maybe you have sandwich and I hunt for me?" Reaching up, Darren pulls Chris down slightly to kiss him, thumb rubbing over Chris's cheekbone before he pulls back. "I hunt my food now."_ _

__"Hurry back," Chris says, darting down to steal a quick kiss, hoping that's all right._ _

__Darren _grins._ " I'm best hunter in the sea," Darren scoffs, boasting. He jumps backwards, diving and twisting away as he swims quickly in search of a nearby school. It doesn't take him long to find a large swarm of mola mola fish swimming by, and from there it is just a quick dart and a grab and Darren has himself lunch. He swims back to Chris, food in his hands and smug look on his face as he surfaces. _ _

__"Wow, that was fast," Chris says. He's barely finished getting his food out of the basket. "You must know where all the good stuff is here."_ _

__"I'm good with my hands," Darren says, tossing his fish from one hand to the other. "If you eat sandwich..." He trails off, looking down at his fish and then back at Chris. He's usually not self conscious about eating in front of anyone but, Chris thought eating fish raw was revolting and now Darren doesn't know if he should eat in front of him._ _

__"Go ahead," Chris says. He _is_ afraid he'll feel a little squeamish, but he's also curious. He wants to see what Darren does and how he operates. "Just do what you'd normally do." _ _

__It's surprisingly neat, both in a tidy sense and in how Darren knows exactly where to bite into to get the most meaty pieces and avoid the tiny bones. Their conversation quiets while they both focus on their food, but every time one of them catches the other looking they smile._ _

__Darren disposes of his food and takes a moment to clean up before he's back looking at Chris with huge, wide eyes. "That was nice," Darren says happily. "Now, you want see somewhere new? Would like somewhere alone?"_ _

__"Yes, please," Chris immediately says. He tucks his things away where they hopefully won't be stolen and then holds his arms out for Darren to help him into the water. This is the part Chris has been looking forward to most, feeling Darren against him again._ _

__All of the fears and issues Darren has with he and Chris being together disappear when Darren has him in his arms. He wraps his arms tightly around Chris and pulls him in as Chris automatically wraps his legs tightly around Darren's tail._ _

__Darren begins swimming them away from the shore, his arms around Chris before he leans in to whisper, "Breathe," warning him. He waits for Chris to take a deep one in and then swims them under the water back into the familiar grotto. "Is not new but no one else here and I ... wanted to be with you."_ _

__"No, this is perfect," Chris says. He gives Darren a little space to swim away, but Darren doesn't go far. Chris is glad._ _

__"I hope we... swim together," Darren says shyly. His fins flick against Chris's legs, not wanting to lose connection with him at all._ _

__"I'm not that good," Chris warns him. "But I'd love to. I mean... I'm not even good by human standards, but you've definitely got a leg - er, a fin? - up on me. But... yes, just. Don't let me drown."_ _

__It takes effort to stop his nervous rambling but Chris manages._ _

__"I would not let thing happen to you," Darren says honestly. He releases Chris, letting him tread water as he pulls back. Smiling, Darren dives under the water, spinning around and then swimming and curling all around Chris as he moves._ _

__Chris swims lazily back and forth and then just stops to watch Darren. He can't see him once Darren goes too far down but he mostly stays close enough for Chris to see the gleam of his tail in the weak sunlight, and the pale glow of his skin._ _

__He wishes he had his camera for this._ _

__When Darren springs back up with a splash, Chris laughs and claps. "That's so amazing." His eyes are wide and delighted. Darren grins and jumps backwards, still showing off. He pops up onto the surface, beaming over at Chris._ _

__Chris ends up settling back on the rock when his legs get tired, embarrassingly fast. He wonders if maybe he should start swimming laps in his free time just to build up his endurance. He watches as Darren dives down deep and then quickly races back towards the surface, then jumping up out of the water and flicking his tail. He's showing off for Chris but Darren can't help it, he wants to show off and impress Chris._ _

__Chris grins and bites his lip. He hasn't felt this kind of silly rush of excitement in... he can't even remember how long. He gets to his feet on the rock, and looks at Darren. "So... if I jump, can you catch me?"_ _

__"Yes," Darren answers, boasting. "I catch you, take you away with me."_ _

__"Great." Chris flashes a grin. "Then catch!" He flings himself off the rock toward Darren with as much momentum as he can manage._ _

__Darren laughs and grabs Chris in his arms, pulling him in close as they both fall back into the water. Laughing as they submerge, Darren presses his lips to Chris, kissing him as he winds himself around Chris’s body, keeping him under the water. Chris struggles slightly but Darren pets along his side, he'd never let anything happen to him. His tongue slips into Chris's mouth but instead of kissing him, Darren exhales, breathing right into his mouth._ _

__Chris makes a sound against Darren's mouth and his arms tighten around Darren's neck. He's scared, his heart pounding, but this is exciting too. He can taste Darren and he can _breathe_ and Darren won't let anything happen to him. Darren's already told him that. _ _

__Darren takes them a bit deeper under the water, his arms holding Chris in close, letting him know that Darren has him, will always have him. Darren continues to breath in through the water and out into Chris's mouth, letting him breathe in from him._ _

__Darren can feel the music swelling inside him, from his chest and wanting to push out and call forward to Chris. He keeps his mouth sealed around Chris's but he can't stop from humming as his tongue licks into Chris's own mouth._ _

__Chris has never been this deep underwater, but it's not so far down that it's not safe. He closes his eyes and he can feel a strange vibration from Darren's mouth where it's still over his. Chris can't really tell what it is or what it means but his legs tighten around Darren and he moans back in response._ _

__Darren can _hear_ Chris. It's not singing, not quite but Darren will take it. He surges forward, tumbling them through the water as his tongue comes out and begins to lick into Chris's mouth hungrily. _ _

__It's an enthusiastic response. Chris kisses back just as enthusiastically and when his chest starts to feel a little tight, because he's not actually taking air in anymore, he ignores it. At least - until he feels something. Something warm and slightly hard prodding along his hip, and... and... fuck, is that... _fuck-__ _

__Fuck. Chris inhales too hard and his instinct is to cough, which just brings in more water. He starts to panic and shove at Darren, needing up, needing air._ _

__Darren grabs at Chris, not letting him shove him away. He grabs Chris around the middle and swims them both quickly to the surface, getting Chris above the water and into the air so he can breathe. Chris is coughing and spitting up water and Darren feels awful. He gently rubs Chris's back, still holding onto him to keep him from sinking in the water._ _

__Seeing how upset Darren looks, Chris immediately reaches out to try and make him feel better. It results in little more than blind patting while he still tries to catch his breath, but he hopes it helps. "Sorry. S-sorry," he pants. "I might have gotten a little, ah, too enthusiastic. For underwater, at least. I'd be up for um, for trying that again... where I can actually breathe."_ _

__Darren smiles and slowly swims Chris over to the soft, sandy ledge that is only barely underwater. He let's Chris slide from his arms and onto the ledge to sit and gain his breath a bit more. "I'm sorry," he says quietly. "I wasn't trying to drown you, I promise," Darren swears, reaching out to pet along Chris's cheekbones._ _

__"I know." Chris grins, knowing Darren won't get the cliche but unable to resist. "You just took my breath away." He kisses Darren softly, again and again until Darren relaxes the tense way he's holding himself._ _

__Darren leans in to Chris, mouth working and kissing deeply. He can't stop, doesn't ever really _want_ to stop. He wants to always be able to touch and taste Chris, have him right here. "Can I keep you?" Darren asks quietly, not even meaning to speak as his fingers trace along Chris's cheek. _ _

__"Yes," Chris says, quietly emphatic. "Yes, yes, you can keep me. If I can keep you back."_ _

__Darren pulls back, surprised when Chris answers. "Really? You let me keep you?" Darren's fingers explore over Chris's face, leaving warm droplets of seawater as he looks him over in surprise._ _

__"Trade my life for a fantastical existence on a paradise island with a gorgeous fantasy creature?" Chris leans into Darren, smiling. "In a heartbeat. If I could.”_ _

__The last part makes Darren a bit sad but he nods slowly. "I wish I be with you all ways," he whispers, voice quiet and a bit broken. Inside, his heart wants to sing for Chris, but Darren keeps it quiet._ _

__Chris smooths Darren's hair down and kisses the corner of his mouth once, twice, three times. He wants so badly to make Darren smile again. "I'll be here with you as much as I can," he promises. "I wish the same, you know. I wish you could be with me every day."_ _

__Darren smiles. "Take me wherever you go?" He teases Chris gently._ _

__"Everywhere," Chris says, wrapping his arms around Darren's waist, just above where his scales start._ _

__Darren shivers gently, the spot where skin and scales meet extra sensitive on him. "I like that," he whispers quietly. "I want show you my home. I want see yours." He nuzzles into Chris, claiming his lips again. "I want show you my mother, my father, place where I sleep at night. I want _sing_ for you..." He adds, quickly taking Chris's mouth and kissing him hard and deep to keep Chris from responding. _ _

__"I'd like... I'd like you to meet my sister. I think she'd love you," Chris says, smiling as he thinks of her. Then Darren's kissing him again and Chris's mind goes a pleasant wash of blankness and warmth and _happiness._ Darren pushes further, pushes until Chris is laying back down on the sandy bank and Darren is able to curl and lay on top of him, body still pushing for more and deeper._ _

__"What do your people... do?" Chris asks, voice soft and breathless in a better way now. "When they like someone? How do you - how are you _with_ them?" He's pretty sure of what he felt earlier, but he doesn't want to cross any boundaries and... he's also just... not sure how it _works.__ _

__"First we call our mate, tell how much we want be with them. Tell everyone we adore only them and want be _with_ them," Darren begins quietly. _ _

__"Yeah?" Chris waits for him to go on. He’s numb, nothing really processing just yet. It’ll hit him later; this is how he always reacts to groundbreaking news… with nothing, and then everything as long as he’s somewhere by himself that little thing inside him that holds him together in times of stress unlatches and it all pours out. So for now - he just listens._ _

__"When you hear your mate singing to you, you answer, then you sing together, songs blend and twist together." Darren rests his mouth over Chris's own as he breathes straight into Chris's mouth. "Gets body ready, each person responding to mate’s call and unique song. When you hear mate, your body responds. You move together, arms around each other, tails together, so you press against your lover."_ _

__It sounds... hot._ _

__Chris has to shift a little, knowing his shorts won't hide his reaction to that. "In your - society, I guess, in your society, do... is there a way that males are... _together_?" Chris asks. _ _

__Darren nods slowly. "Yes. It is not uncommon for males to be together. I move behind you, wrap my tail around yours so we not separate. I would press against your back as I come out of sheath and push into you."_ _

__"Sheath?" Chris glances down without even meaning to. "I - oh. Wow. I see it now." It blends in so well with Darren's scales, and the only way Chris realizes it's different now is that he can see a bit of pink flesh poking out._ _

__Darren takes Chris's fingers in his hand and trails them down to his sheath where his cock is beginning to stir and lengthen. "Here," Darren says softly. The touch of Chris's fingers feels so good to his sensitive scales and his tail quivers gently with anticipation._ _

__"What about... What about you? What is like for human males? I want to know."_ _

__"It's... like you described, sort of. We look... different." Chris can barely take his eyes off the sheath now that he sees it. "We don't - it's just, there, for us. It's not tucked away in anything."_ _

__Chris strokes his thumb over the scales around the sheath, noticing how Darren seems to like that._ _

__"Can... Can I see...?" Darren asks quietly. He wants to see Chris and wants to touch him like how Chris is touching him._ _

__Chris's hands shake as he pushes his shorts down. His cock is half-hard, plump and pink against his thigh. He looks at it, trying to imagine what it would look like to someone who doesn't have a daily acquaintance with it ._ _

__Darren cocks his head to the side as he studies Chris. He's shorter than Darren is and pinker. He reaches his hand out and Chris's cock is dry to the touch initially but it doesn't take long until Darren feels wetness dripping down onto his fingers. He moves his hand, noticing where Chris is leaking from._ _

__"Hm," Darren murmurs, reaching out to flick his tongue against the beads of liquid on his fingers. His eyes widen as it tastes good._ _

__Chris can't really tell if Darren likes the look of it or not but he does seem to like the taste. The sound he makes after licking his fingers is enough to get Chris all the way hard._ _

__"Ooh," Darren says happily, watching Chris grow and thicken in his hands. It isn't quite the same as his own length but there are similarities between them both. "What... I, I don't know what its..." Darren doesn't know how to ask the question what he wants to know. Instead, his fingers move to curl back around Chris, enjoying the silky soft feeling of him under his hand._ _

__Chris laughs. "That's about all it does, sorry. Until - the end, when I come, then it makes... um. Stuff comes out of it. That's..." His breath hitches slightly when Darren tests a squeezing grip. "It, that's about it. No magic tricks."_ _

__"Can I see?" Darren asks again. He wants to see everything, wants to see Chris do everything._ _

__"You... you want to?" Chris grins faintly. He covers Darren's hand with his own and shows him how to stroke just right, the way Chris likes it best. "Keep doing that, and... you will."_ _

__Darren nods and strokes Chris like he's instructed, squeezing gently and using his fingers to play near the tip where it is wetter. "You're so pretty," he says softly, eyes gazing at all the soft pink skin in front of him. Chris is truly an amazing looking creature._ _

__To Chris, Darren is the pretty one. His cock is poking out from his sheath more now and Chris can see it. It's not like Chris's at all, a more pointed tip that expands into a thicker base. It's also completely hairless, which shouldn't surprise Chris, and there are no testicles that Chris can see at all. It looks almost more tentacle like than anything else. Chris grunts at the wave of pleasure that course through him when he images that being inside of him._ _

__Darren stares down at Chris, his other hand reaching out to touch right behind Chris's shaft where two small round organs hang. His fingers pet gently in between the two when Chris groans and jerks harder up into Darren's closed fist. "Does that... feel good?" He guesses._ _

__"They're sensitive," Chris admits. "You can touch, just - don't squeeze them." He gives Darren a shaky smile, completely overwhelmed in the best way._ _

__Darren nods solemnly. He doesn't want to hurt Chris at all. "I won't," he promises. His hand around Chris's shaft tightens gently as he continues to stroke Chris harder and faster._ _

__"That's good, though. You can be a little less gentle with that - mm, perfect." Chris tips his chin forward and breathes heavily. "Oh, fuck... kiss me? Please?"_ _

__"Yes," Darren agrees quickly. He surges forward and presses his mouth to Chris's own as his hand speeds up. "I want see you, do it Chris." Darren can figure out what they're working towards. He may not know human physiology but he can tell they're similar enough to know what will happen soon._ _

__A dozen or so more strokes and Chris cries out, just once, short but high and sharp. His cock twitches in Darren's grasp and streaks of come decorate his stomach._ _

__" _Punyeta_ " Darren curses as he watches Chris pulse over his hand and fist. It is amazing to watch him come undone like this right in front of him. He runs his fingers through the white liquid on Chris's belly, scooping it up and flicking his tongue out to taste. It tastes as good as before and he's quickly sucking it off his fingers. _ _

__Chris is barely finished coming when he opens his eyes to see Darren eating the come from his fingertips. He's not ready for that kind of visual assault and keens softly, one last powerful jerk of his cock making another small dribble of come ooze out. It almost feels like a second orgasm, and Chris hasn't come as hard in... well, in a really long time._ _

__Darren's out of his sheath now - completely, Chris suspects, because if there's more than _that_ he's going to be shocked. It's already enticingly impressive in length and girth. Chris reaches out to touch it, closing his fingers around slippery slick wriggling flesh. _ _

__Darren cries out at the touch of Chris's fingertips. He's so sensitive right there and he loves how Chris's touch feels on him already. "Chris--" he gasps, hips jerking and thrusting and trying to ride into his grip._ _

__"What can I do for you?" Chris asks, propping himself up over Darren. He moves his hand up and down like he'd do to jerk himself off, but he's not sure if it's doing that much for Darren. Chris can barely close his fingers around Darren toward the bottom._ _

__"Touch just... like that and touch me," Darren begs softly. His hips jerk hard up and roll, back and forth and back and forth as he tries to push himself into Chris's grasp._ _

__Chris straddles Darren so he can use both hands. Darren is in constant motion, writhing and using his tail to lift his body and fuck into Chris's grasp. It's good - Chris is glad, he feels like Darren enjoys that more than just a back and forth handjob. "Fuck, you're so gorgeous," Chris stares, entrance by how open Darren is with his pleasure. Not a thing is held back._ _

__Darren shakes and shivers and his tail quivers under the touch of Chris's thighs. "I want--" he starts to say but is cut off by Chris's hands moving on him, sliding down his cock and playing with him. "Your hands feel so good--" he moans loudly._ _

__"Fuck," Chris whispers._ _

__Darren looks at him. "What you call this? Fuck?"_ _

__Chris is surprised to hear _fuck_ come out of Darren's mouth, but he realizes that Darren must be mimicking how Chris is talking. Somehow the word said in such a fluid way makes it even hotter. "Yeah," Chris says. "We're fucking."_ _

__Darren groans and rolls his hips again. "Fucking fucking fuck... _fuck--_ " He whimpers and his cock shudders in Chris's hands before he comes, wet and watery and thin all over Chris._ _

__Chris is driven by the same curiosity Darren had felt. He lifts his hand to his mouth and tastes the come. It's... fresh, clean, almost _tasting_ like water. There's also a lot of it - more than Chris could ever produce. It's minutes before his cock starts to diminish and retreat back into the sheath. _ _

__Darren is panting, laying against the bank, just staring over at Chris with wide eyes. He feels so much right now, like his heart has swollen four times its size. He reaches out and threads his fingers with Chris's, holding his hand._ _

__" _Uso pa ba ang harana? Marahil ikaw ay nagtataka. Sino ba 'tong mukhang gago, nagkandarapa sa pagkanta at nasisintunado sa kaba. Meron pang dalang mga rosas. Suot nama'y maong na kupas at nariyan pa ang barkada..."_ Darren sings quietly, his chest vibrating as he pulls Chris in close to nuzzle against him. _ _

__Chris rests his head on Darren's chest and closes his eyes. To describe what Darren's doing as singing sounds inadequate. It's like he's wrapped Chris up in the sound, like it's invading Chris's very pores._ _

__It's breathtaking, like so much else about Darren is._ _

__Darren finishes the song and trails off. Its sad and somber but Chris doesn't know why and Darren just lets the words swirl around him. He'll sing for Chris even if they can't both sing together._ _

__"I wish I could do that," Chris says, because just like he can feel the intensity he can also feel the wistfulness. He rubs a hand over Darren's heart and closes his eyes. "I'm sorry that I can't."_ _

__Darren smiles down at Chris. "I'm sorry I can't leave water for you," he replies back quietly. "And to be with me you sometimes drown."_ _

__Chris has to laugh just a little at that. "You're worth sometimes drowning a little." He leans up to kiss Darren's cheek. "What would happen to you? If you did come on land with me for a while? Do you need the water to survive?"_ _

__Darren nods. "I can stay out of water for a little but my tail dries and peels and dies." He gives a bodily shudder as he's seen poor merpeople that ended on shore and were too old or too sick to get back into the water._ _

__Chris is horrified. "Oh, god, no. No, okay. That plan is definitely out." Chris looks down, relieved to see the water lapping at Darren, high up enough that he's in no danger of drying out._ _

__Darren sighs softly "It does take some time for me to dry out though, it doesn't happen right away."_ _

__"Still. I'd be afraid something would... happen. Besides, I bet you wouldn't want to be too far from your family, either. And we couldn't go out in public." Chris groans, frustration mounting._ _

__"Yes," Darren says quietly, his hand going to the back of Chris's hair. "You can not go with me to where I live either for you cannot breathe.” He tugs on Chris's hair until he tips his head back to look up at Darren's face. "I would not give this up, what I have had with you, for all the perlas in all the seas," he says quietly, serious expression upon his face._ _

__"I can come to see you most days," Chris says. He feels like a teenager, desperately making plans. Actually, scratch that. He never felt like this as a teenager. This is something wholly new for him._ _

__Darren nods. "I will be here for you. Every day we can be with each other," he responds, thumb rubbing over Chris's lip. "I think... I think you are to be mine," Darren continues quietly._ _

__Chris doesn't even fully know what it means for Darren to say that, but he knows that he loves hearing it. He surges up and cups Darren's face in his hands, kissing him firmly on the mouth. "I'd be honored to be yours."_ _

__Darren _smiles._ "You are prettiest mate any sireno could ever wish for," he whispers back quietly. _ _

__"You are the most gorgeous boyfriend anyone could ever hope to have," Chris smiles at Darren, the embarrassing almost-toothy smile he reserves for very special and usually involuntary moments of extreme happiness._ _

__"Boy-friend?" Darren repeats slowly, looking at Chris with an interesting expression. "Is mates for humans?"_ _

__"Yeah," Chris says. "We have lots of words for it, though. Boyfriend - partner. Significant other. But... I think mate works just as well."_ _

__"Mates have parties where sing to each other in front of sirenos, show everyone how good they sound and how much they care."_ _

__"Oh, that's - we have a word for that, too." Chris draws his hand down Darren's chest. "We call it husbands. That usually comes - later. After you've known someone for a while, been on dates... I was actually... earlier, when I brought food? That's what we usually do on dates. Share a meal together, and then sometimes do something else extra that's fun. I thought... I mean. I wanted it to be a date, for us. I just didn't know if you did that."_ _

__Darren smiles. "We don't do dates but ... we court mates? Bring food and presents and be with them."_ _

__"Well, you're certainly doing that." Chris kisses Darren again sweetly. "And you tried to bring me food "_ _

__Darren hums into the kiss. "I did bring you food. You not like my food," he says with a sad little pout._ _

__"Well, you didn't like mine either - you don't have to pretend to be nice, I saw your face when you took a bite." Chris teases Darren._ _

__Darren blushes and looks away because it's true that he didn't like Chris's food either. "We bring non-food presents maybe?" He asks hopefully._ _

__"Like this..." Chris touches the necklace Darren gave him. Then he touches the cuff Darren is still wearing. "And that."_ _

__Darren looks down at the cuff encircling his wrist and then back to Chris. "Like this," he agrees softly. He reaches out to touch the necklace that Chris is wearing and smiles. He didn’t know when he left it for Chris that it would be a courtship present, he only wanted to give the pretty man something nice._ _

__"I'll bring you something else tomorrow," Chris promises. "I have to work so I won't be able to stay as long as I did today, but... I'll try and bring you something you'll like."_ _

__"I like you," Darren says back, breaking into a huge grin as Chris just stares at him. He leans in and presses a kiss to Chris's lips impishly, feeling proud of himself._ _

__"I like you, too. So much." Chris snuggles in closer to Darren. "I could fall asleep here, I think."_ _

__"Would be nice?" Darren replies back, sinking down into the water a bit and wrapping his arms tighter around Chris. "I think it good idea."_ _

__"Just for a little while," Chris says, smiling and letting himself drift off with the scent of ocean water and Darren soothing him._ _

__"Stay love, I keep you close," Darren assures Chris as he nuzzles into the top of Chris's hair and tightens his grip around his waist._ _

__*_ _

__Chris has spent a lot of time imagining what it would be like when he had a boyfriend._ _

__Never did his imagination conjure up almost nightly trips to the ocean, learning to swim better than he ever thought he would, developing an appreciation for anything waterproof, or watching his merman boyfriend speed through the water with grace that would put Olympic swimmers to shame._ _

__After a couple of weeks Chris has made the little grotto partially his own. He has a bag with snacks and bottled water, and he's considering bringing some kind of wetsuit for when it gets colder and the water is less pleasant to be in._ _

__For now it's still warm enough that he has no trouble._ _

__Darren never imagined a mate like this. Growing up he had flashes, thoughts of pretty pink scales and flowing, curvy fins that would entice him in when he wound his tail around hers. He had always had thoughts of long hair and big pretty lips, not firm and sturdy legs and a cock and a pair of lungs that required air to breathe. He never thought another man, let alone a human._ _

__But he's far from disappointed. He's excited and _happy_. Even if their physiology keeps them apart for some time, Darren can't help but be excited because he has Chris and that means everything to him. _ _

__Darren lays in the grotto with Chris, tail curled around and in between Chris's legs as they lay together, Chris without the bit of clothing he always insisted on wearing to swim and Darren blessedly able to touch every bit of his skin. His hands roam up and down Chris's legs, playing with the thick, sturdy hair there._ _

__Darren wants nothing more from life but this right now._ _

__Which is why he shouldn't be surprised when he hears Joey's voice pop up behind him._ _

___"I heard you singing Darren, you got a girl in here, huh?"_ _ _

__Chris doesn't understand what the other voice says, but he understands that it's the same song-speak that Darren says but this is not from Darren. Chris looks around, alarmed and slightly fearful._ _

___"Woah,"_ Joey says, startled and pulling back. He wasn't expecting a guy and certainly wasn't expecting a _tail-less_ guy. _"Darren is that... is that a **two-legger**?"_ Joey asks, eyes wide. _ _

___"Shut up! Shut your mouth Joey!"_ Darren shouts, sitting up and sliding down into the water. Joey looks scared as he stares at Chris and it just makes Darren angrier. _ _

___"What are you even **doing** with him? It looked like--" _Joey gasps again, his eyes widening. _"I heard you singing! You had your tail wound around him I saw it! You're... mating with a two-legger!"__ _

__"Darren?" Chris calls out. Darren and the other person - guy? Chris thinks guy, at least - have disappeared under the water._ _

__Joey grabs at Darren's arm to pull him away and Darren twists away angrily. _"No, Joey,"_ he says. " _He is--"__ _

___"He is not anything he is a **two-legger.** "_ Joey is angry, glaring up at the waterline. _ _

___"Do not speak about him like that!"_ Darren snaps back. _ _

___"Joey, wait--"_ Darren says, grabbing forward at Joey now. _"You can't say anything,"_ Darren insists. _ _

___"Darren--"_ _ _

___"Look, I know what you think and what everyone else thinks but it's not like that. **He's** not like that. **Please**."_ Darren looks pleadingly at Joey, silently begging him not to go and say anything, not yet while Darren still doesn't know what to say about Chris just yet. _ _

___"Darren--"_ Joey starts but Darren tugs his hand a bit harder and Joey sighs. _"You don't even know he's not like that. What if he's trapping you? And planning to trap the rest of us?"__ _

__Darren shakes his head quickly. _"No, no, I **know** him. He would never do that to us. Never."__ _

__Joey sighs and finally nods. _"Fine,_ " he agrees. _"I won't say anything."_ Joey crosses his arms over his chest, clearly not happy with agreeing._ _

___"Thank you,"_ Darren breathes, reaching out to hug Joey. Joey just wraps an arm loosely around Darren before dropping his arms. _ _

___"We're not done talking about this though,"_ Joey warns before swimming off. _ _

__Darren watches him leave before resurfacing and looking for Chris. "I'm sorry, I'm here," he calls out._ _

__"What happened?" Chris asks, nervous and upset, because Darren just _disappeared.__ _

__"Joey is friend. He's a soul-mate of mine," Darren tries to explain with as much of the limited vocabulary that Chris has taught him. "He was surprised to see... us."_ _

__"Soulmate?" Chris asks, his voice very quiet, very confused and a little hurt._ _

__Darren nods. "He's my a _kaibigan_ ," Darren says quietly. "My... my friend who knows my soul," Darren tries to explain. He doesn't have the right words in this language to fully explain who Joey is to him. _ _

__"But you're not - with him?" Chris asks. "Like you are with me?" He never even thought to ask Darren if his people paired up in numbers more than two._ _

__Darren shakes his head. "I'm not with him at all. He's... A non-blood brother," Darren says, still struggling to explain. "Does this make sense?" He swims over to Chris and reaches out for him._ _

__"Yeah," Chris says, relaxing a little. He leans into Darren, arms stealing around him. "I don't want to share you."_ _

__Darren smiles and takes Chris into his arms. "I am just yours and you are my _Asawa_ , my mate." Darren leans in and nuzzles into Chris's neck, placing soft kisses up and down his neck. _ _

__"So was he upset?" Chris asks, remembering the tension on Darren's face when he's surfaced. "Are you... Not supposed to be around humans?"_ _

__"Humans... do not like our kind," Darren starts to explain. "They've caught us before, caused many of us to die. We've developed ways to keep quiet from humans but the caution, is still there. I do not think all humans are the same but others... they worry."_ _

__"So your friend is just worried about you? I guess I can understand that." Chris is confused about one thing, though. "We don't know you exist, though. Not most of us, at least? People talk about you, your kind, like they're just make believe."_ _

__Darren nods. "We've hidden for a long time. It's been a long time since any of us were spotted by humans. My mother knows more about it, things changed when she was a young girl."_ _

__"How old is your mother? How old are _you_?" Since Darren looks to be the same age as Chris, more or less, Chris hasn't ever asked. Now he wonders if maybe the lifespans are different. _ _

__"I am in the second stage of my life," Darren answers. "I know, I am still a tadpole after all," Darren chuckles. "My mother is in the middle of her fourth cycle though she pretends otherwise."_ _

__"Stage - how many..." Chris realizes his questions may not translate at all. Darren probably has no concept of a year. "Well, I'm just going to hope we're not too far apart in age. I don't know which one of us would even be robbing the cradle."_ _

__"Robbing the cradle?" Darren asks, cocking his head to the side. "What... does that mean?" Darren slowly turns them around in a lazy circle, his tail swirling in the water._ _

__"It's when one person mates with someone who is much younger than them. Human babies sleep in things called cradles - it's a thing made out of wood that holds them, kind of like a cage, which doesn't sound pleasant but it's just so the babies don't roll off the surface and hurt themselves." Chris has gotten used to explaining things to Darren. He catches on so quickly that something never has to be explained more than once._ _

__Darren nods slowly. "So, if one of us was significantly older than the other, they would be... robbing this cradle?" He asks, checking with Chris to get a nod. "I get it." Darren isn't sure what cycle of life Chris is in, he always looked like Darren's age and he assumed they would be around the same cycle but with different time scales, who could know. "Well, cradle robbing or not, I definitely like mating with you."_ _

__"I'm glad to hear that." Chris kisses Darren's cheek. "If he tells anyone else, will you get in trouble?"_ _

__Darren bites the bottom of his lip, it's true that he will get in trouble if Joey says anything but he doesn't think Joey will. And he doesn't want to worry Chris._ _

__"It will be okay," Darren says instead. "I trust Joey," he says earnestly._ _

__"Okay. If you're sure." Chris knows there's nothing he can really do, but he still feels bad. "So is he who you spend all your time with when you're not with me? Do you hunt with him?" Chris loves hearing about Darren's life._ _

__Darren nods. "Him or my brother, Chuck. Less with Chuck lately because he's courting a girl. Her name is Arista and he won't stop talking about her. He's singing _all the time_." Darren rolls his eyes but grins at Chris. "I guess I can understand his preoccupation. I mean... If I could, I'd sing with you all the time too."_ _

__"What about you?" Chris grins, leaning into Darren. "Are you singing _all the time_?"_ _

__Darren grins. "I don't know, are we busy _singing_ all the time Chris? Do you sing alone when I'm not here?"_ _

__Chris laughs. "I'm not sure you're talking about actually singing anymore..." He smoothes a hand down Darren's scales, over the sheath._ _

__Darren's grin is boyish as he leans in close to Chris until their noses almost touch. "I'm not," he whispers. His hips jerk up and he pushes until one of Chris's fingers dips into his sheath and he gasps hard._ _

__"You like that," Chris says, getting excited. Darren is so responsive and Chris could spend hours doing nothing but exploring him, what he likes and what makes him different._ _

__Darren nods eagerly. "Yeah it feels--" He breaks off groaning and rolling his hips again into Chris's fingers. He's never tried to slip fingers into his sheath before, never actually thought about it but with how good it feels Darren can't help but think he was seriously missing out on something before now._ _

__"Tell me if something doesn't feel good," Chris says, kissing Darren's jaw. His fingers rub against Darren from the inside._ _

__Darren shakes in Chris's arms. "It feels too good," he whispers softly. "I've never felt anything like-- _a dia_ \--like this." The tip pushes into Chris's hand and he circles it, squeezing. _ _

__Darren's head falls back as his cock slides further out of his sheath, Chris's hand going with it. It continues to slide until he's fully out. "Chris," he says quietly, reaching for him. “I want to try..." Darren did a bit of research since the last time he was with Chris and he has an idea of what he wants to do._ _

__"Yeah?" Chris asks, meeting his eyes._ _

__Darren takes Chris's cock in his hand and lines Chris's cock up alongside his long one before rolling his hips, attempting to rock them both together._ _

__"Oh..." Chris gasps. He's done this before, with other men, but it's never felt like this._ _

__It's slippery and wet sliding against Chris in the water. Darren's cock slides far past Chris's own, but Darren enjoys how warm and firm Chris feels against his own cock. "Chris--" Darren pants, using both of his hands to hold his cock alongside Chris's as he thrusts hard against him._ _

__Chris grinds down into him. Darren leaks constantly, not water but slick like lube, and it makes it so easy and so good._ _

__Falling forward, Darren captures Chris's lips with his own as he pants and licks into his mouth. "I need-- I'm so--" His body shudders slightly as the feeling grows from the tip of his tail, up through his body._ _

__Chris strokes his hands up Darren's back, down over his tail. There's a lush swell where his ass would be on a human and the little slit there that Chris knows he can work a finger into comfortably. He and Darren haven't discussed doing more than that, but so far - they're both satisfied with this kind of slow progression._ _

__Darren rocks harder into Chris's body and then lets it hit him hard, spilling over onto his hands and Chris's cock and stomach. It makes a small mess that is easily cleaned off with water. Darren slumps into Chris's body, tail going limp between Chris's legs._ _

__Chris is still hard, close but not quite close enough. He makes tiny frustrated noises as he tries to thrust against Darren, but he knows Darren is too sensitive now, cock already disappearing back into his body. "Can you... oh... your mouth?" Chris asks, eyes wide. They haven't done this yet either, but oh, Chris _wants_. _ _

__Darren looks up and _grins_. "Can you hold yourself afloat?" Darren is worried about letting go and Chris sinking but Chris nods quickly and eagerly and so Darren gently releases him and slides back down under the water. _ _

__It is not unfamiliar for merpeople to pleasure each other in this way and Darren is quick to slide his mouth down around Chris's cock, sucking on him and swallowing until his cock slides into the back of his throat._ _

__Chris has never had an underwater blowjob, and he's also never had a blowjob from someone that didn't need to surface for air - in any respect of the phrase. He realizes very quickly that this will be his undoing, this powerful suction unrelenting in pace. Darren's mouth is tingly-cool, and _nonstop_. Before long Chris is jerking and twitching and spilling against his tongue. _ _

__It tastes as good as Darren remembers and he sucks it down eagerly. Slurping and licking until he has swallowed every bit of the come from Chris's cock. He pulls off with a pop and slowly resurfaces to see Chris, blinking owlishly at him._ _

__"That what you wanted?" Darren asks, hopeful he got it right._ _

__"Perfect. Except the part where you forgot to come back up here and kiss me." Chris smiles and holds his arms out, wanting Darren back in them. Sitting in this spot the water laps against Chris's shoulders - deep enough for Darren to be comfortable but not so much that Chris isn't._ _

__Darren goes where Chris wants him, eagerly swimming into his arms and curling his tail around Chris's legs. He presses his lips to Chris's own and slides his tongue into his mouth slowly, letting Chris take his time to get used to the taste._ _

__He's expecting it but he's still not prepared for how it makes him feel, his taste in Darren's mouth. He likes it - likes it quite a bit. "Much better," he says, relaxing back against the grotto wall._ _

__Darren smiles back, rubbing his nose gently against Chris's own. "You look like a happy porpoise who got the fish," he teases quietly, enjoying the way Chris's body is relaxed and happy._ _

__"Is that an insult? Are porpoises cute to you?" Chris lazily strokes his hand over Darren's back, fingers only stopping to curiously explore the place where skin turns to scale._ _

__"Porpoises are adorable," Darren says quietly as his nose slips and he begins to nuzzle and mouth along Chris's jawline. He's tasting and teasing every bit of skin he can get in between his lips._ _

__Chris stretches back under him, content to let himself bask in this moment._ _

__*_ _

__They meet as often as they can, which isn’t often enough for either of them. There are beautiful afternoons spent in the sun, but only on weekends and it’s hard for Chris to explain to Darren that some days he works and some he doesn’t. Darren’s kind understand light-dark, which Darren describes as the time when the surface glows - sun hitting the water, Chris surmises, and night-dark - when the opposite happens and the surface is still and inky._ _

__Still, Darren seems to accept even what is strange to him, and Chris tries to do the same. It works, for a while, and then suddenly it doesn’t._ _

__It’s the busy time of year for Chris; he supplements his income doing school portraits and holiday cards for parents willing to spend too much money, and layoffs at his office means he’s given more and more assignments that take him away from home and Darren._ _

__Sometimes he shows up to their spot and Darren never appears. He leaves notes for Darren and Darren leaves little tokens back but with a job and traveling to other cities often, it just doesn't always work. There's no easy way to get a time to meet, and no way for Chris to get a message to Darren in any timely way._ _

__It's a frustration, and there's nothing worse to Chris than those days he comes home feeling unfulfilled and a little lost._ _

__He hasn't asked, but he thinks Darren feels the same way. They've missed each other for nine straight days in a row when Chris finally has time to sit there for a while until Darren's familiar face appears._ _

__Darren peeks over the horizon, checking to see if Chris is even there. He's been so dejected recently, not being able to see his mate but right there, sitting on the rocks is his Chris. Darren dives down and swims as fast as he can to the rocks before popping up and beaming hugely._ _

__"Chris!" He says excitedly, tail pumping under the water so he can come up high enough to reach for him. "You are _here_! Oh I have missed you." His voice goes softer as he is finally able to nuzzle in and smell him. He smells like the the salt in the wind and his love._ _

__Chris is ready to get straight in the water this time. He's left everything important in the car, content to just sit and wait if he had to. He wraps his arms and legs both around Darren, heart pounding in excitement and relief. "I missed you, too."_ _

__Darren wraps his arms tight around Chris's body, his tail coming up to wind around him, keeping Chris as close as possible. "Don't like it when you're not with me," Darren admits quietly, still nuzzling into Chris. His heart seems to beat easier, his body feeling more relaxed now that he has his mate with him. "Don't ever be that far away from me."_ _

__"I came," Chris says, pulling back to look Darren over, like he's afraid something might have changed in the days between. "I just couldn't stay for long, and you weren't here-"_ _

__"--I tried to get here but we had family group hunts to get food for big party and I couldn't leave on time--" Darren interrupts Chris to add. He had tried so hard to get out of hunting and helping as much as he could but there was nothing to be done. He couldn't tell his mother that he was going to meet a human and if he had mentioned anything about a mate everyone would have demanded to meet her. The only person who knew the truth was Joey and while Darren trusted that he wouldn't say anything, Darren didn't want to cause that trust to stretch thin._ _

__"I'm sorry," he says softly, squeezing Chris tighter to him._ _

__Soon the weather and the seas will be changing. Darren knows the great fish will be swimming by, moving to different waters and that there will be fewer humans on the rocky beach shores. He is distantly aware that the humans must have seasons like his own ocean does but he had never thought of Chris and the other humans migrating like his family group does to the warmer waters. He still hasn't figured out what he is going to do when that time comes. For now, he keeps pushing the thought from his mind._ _

__Chris nods, hugging Darren back to him. "It's okay. I've got a few hours - you don't have to go right away, do you?"_ _

__Darren shakes his head. "Do you want to go to our cave?" Darren doesn't mind showing Chris new places and new things around the bay but having been away from his love for so long, what he wants the most is to be able to just sit and talk and be with him right now._ _

__"Yes, please," Chris says. He's swearing shorts and a tight swim shirt, a concession to the weather turning colder though... now that he's in the water it isn't bothering him nearly as much as he'd thought that it would._ _

__Darren wraps Chris up tighter and swims them to their special place. It isn't where Darren stays at night but this close cropping of rocks and the water in his grotto is home. That is where he goes and stays with Chris, it’s where some of Chris's things reside alongside some of Darren's own and it is where they can be themselves and be together._ _

__Inside the close cropped cave, the air is warmer and the water is still. Darren surfaces and lets Chris swim out of his arms and over to his favorite seat._ _

__Chris is greedy, holding his arms out for Darren to swim into them. "Not too far away," he says._ _

__Darren laughs but loves it and quickly swims straight to Chris and curls up in his lap, his tail sliding off Chris's lap to wind around in between his legs. "How's you? What have you done while gone?"_ _

__"How are you," Chris gently corrects first, though he's grinning like an idiot at how well Darren's speaking is coming along. "I've been working. I had to go on a trip to a different city, to take photographs... what I do for a living, for money."_ _

__Darren listens, mentally making notes to his own grammar at each of Chris's corrections. "Cities? Explain please," he demands, picking up Chris's hand to play with it in between his own._ _

__Chris starts talking; he's not sure if this is anything Darren really needs to know, but Chris does so little talking in his day to day life and even less that actually means something. Somehow, this does feel important. The words, maybe not, but that someone is here in front of him actively listening..._ _

__It kind of means everything, actually._ _

__"What about you?" He asks, when he finds a place to pause. "What have you been doing since I've seen you last?"_ _

__"Hunting," Darren says with a nod. "Lot's of hunting needed as more family groups arriving. Lots of sireno in the waters for swim. Lots of food needed." Darren hasn't explained much about the upcoming swim to Chris. He hasn't really wanted to think about it enough to tell him. However, a plan is forming in his mind. Chris talks about different places he goes to, it shouldn't be hard for him to travel with Darren just via a different route. It all makes sense to him._ _

__"More family groups arriving?" Chris asks. "How many - um, you may not know how to word that, are there... many? Lots of people in your family?"_ _

__Darren tries to think about it in terms that he can easily explain to Chris. "There are many people in my family group yes. There are also many other family groups here as well. Many here before big swim to warmer waters."_ _

__"Warmer waters?" Chris asks, stomach dropping a little. "You... okay, that makes sense, you migrate, don't you? Because it's going to start getting cold here and you're part mammal and... shit."_ _

__Darren nods. "The waters will get cold soon and we swim back to the waters around my mother's family group. There it is warm and pleasant until we swim back with the water change." He can see how Chris is slumped slightly and he frowns, shifting in Chris's lap until he can look at him straight on._ _

__"Don't do that," Darren says, poking at Chris's cheeks. "You travel to different cities, yes? You travel to new city by warm waters." Darren continues poking Chris's cheeks as he smiles, encouraging Chris to do the same._ _

__"Darren, I can't..." Chris looks at Darren, so simple on the surface and yet so not. Chris isn't for a second fooled by the lowered level of language between them. Darren is brilliant, brilliant enough to have figured this out - but no matter how much intellect he has, he can't afford for the facts of Chris's life that he doesn't know. "It's not that easy," Chris says gently._ _

__Darren's eyes widen and he begins to feel his heartbeat speed up. "What not that easy? I swim with warm waters. You're my mate. Mate goes _with me_." Darren reaches out and grips on to Chris's shoulders. "Mates not separate."_ _

__The hardest part is that Chris does understand exactly what Darren wants, and he wishes he could. "You travel with family," Chris tries to explain. "In the water, with family. I can't - I have no family to travel with. I would be alone, not in the waters, with you. I would die with you, and i would... if I tried to go with you, it costs money, I wouldn't be able to eat or... have shelter. I would be alone."_ _

__He gestures around him when he says shelter, and then weakly to himself on the last word._ _

__"With _me_ ," Darren says, getting visibly distressed. "With _mate_." He doesn't know how to explain to Chris that mates don't separate, they're supposed to be together. The fact that he has to go days without Chris as it is kills him, to have to swim away to other waters and not have Chris to see, to look forward to would be heart breaking. _ _

__"I can't move like you can," Chris says. "My legs don't go as fast on land as you swim in water, and I have to use other ways to get from one place to another - we would still be separated. And I don't have any way of knowing where you are..."_ _

__The laugh he lets out is high, frustrated, almost hysterical. He briefly imagines hitchhiking over the world and tracking a GPS tagged Darren. It would never work._ _

__"But... you're _mine_ ," Darren croaks out. He can't be parted from Chris, he doesn't _want_ to lose his mate and leave him behind. He's supposed to stay with him always. His grip loosens on Chris's shoulders and he slips off of his lap and down into the water. He's trying to picture the many days he will spend in the warmer waters without Chris there. _ _

__Would Chris even still want to be his mate when he returned? What if he found a new mate? A _human_ mate that he'd be able to be with more than Darren? What if he didn't even consider himself Darren's mate _now_? _ _

__Darren slowly slips under the water, needing a moment to himself to deal with all of the questions pounding in his head._ _

__Chris can do nothing but wait, helpless and stuck there, unable to chase after Darren._ _

__Or is he? It's impulsive but he plunges down into the water, swimming deeper than he'd normally dare._ _

__It’s too deep. His heart starts to pound and his arms flail around. His mind tells him he’s gone too deep, that the surface is too far away, that he can’t breathe, that he’s drowning. But he blinks his eyes open and there’s surprising clarity. He sees Darren and the pressure in his chest goes a little lighter when he reaches out._ _

__Darren feels a hand grip his arm and he turns, expecting Joey or even Chuck but certainly not Chris. It is deep and he can see the panic evident on Chris's face and he quickly pulls Chris in, holding on to him. Sealing his mouth over Chris's own, he slides his tongue in before breathing into his mouth, letting Chris relax against him before he slowly swims them back up to the surface._ _

__"I'm okay," Chris says, panting a little. "I'm okay."_ _

__He still wraps his arms tight around Darren, pressing his face to the damp skin of Darren's neck._ _

__Darren croons softly, singing to Chris as he holds him in close. He shouldn't have left Chris sitting alone like that and made him worry. He turns his head slightly so he can nuzzle back at the side of Chris's neck, placing a wet, salty kiss on nearby skin._ _

__"I don't want to say goodbye to you," Chris says, clinging to Darren a little more tightly. "Can we just not talk about this right now? I just want... _you_." _ _

__He pulls back to kiss Darren hungrily, cupping Darren's face in his hands._ _

__Darren nods as best he can with Chris's hands holding his face. He kisses Chris back, hands sliding wetly over his shoulders and down the planes of his back to his ass where he grabs and pulls him in. "Just want you," he agrees in between breaths._ _

__Chris straddles Darren where they sit on the shallow ledge of water, Darren still half submerged. He looks down at Darren until him and smiles. "Just me and you, right now."_ _

__*_ _

__Darren swims through the water, heading back to his family group. His mind is preoccupied with Chris and thoughts of leaving Chris, he doesn't see Joey until he swims right into him. He tumbles in the water, his shoulder aching from where he hit his friend._ _

__"Hey man, sorry," Darren apologizes, rubbing his shoulder where it's already hurting._ _

__“Your shoulder’s as hard as the nose of a porpoise,” Joey complains, rubbing his stomach._ _

__“I said sorry,” Darren sulks, his arms falling. Joey smiles and reaches one arm out to Darren._ _

__“I know.” He hugs Darren close to him, giving him an extra squeeze before releasing him. “So, what’s got you looking down? You been running your shoulders into a pod of jellies?”_ _

__Darren scowls and shoves at Joey but shakes his head. “No, it’s the Swim.”_ _

__“What? What about it?”_ _

__“Well, Chris … _can’t_ ,” Darren whispers. Joey is the only one who knows about who Chris is and what he is and Darren doesn’t want it to get out. _ _

__Joey's eyes widen. He might spend more of his time making his kin laugh than anything else, but he's clever when he needs to be. "Chris is your two-leg? And two-legs can't swim with us."_ _

__“Yes, that’s Chris.” Darren grabs Joey’s arm and pulls him along to a short cropping of rocks, making sure no one can hear them. “He’s not very good at swimming,” he starts again, ignoring Joey’s indelicate snort. “And he says he has things on the land. He can’t go.”_ _

__“This is the problem with two-leggers--” Joey starts._ _

__“--don’t talk to me about the problems with humans Joey,” Darren cuts him off. “Chris is perfect and he’s my _mate_.” _ _

__“You don’t leave your mate for whole warm water seasons Darren,” Joey points out softly._ _

__“I know okay? You don’t think I know that? I’ve been dying here just trying to figure out what it is I need to be doing with Chris and I finally come up with something so he can be there with me and he shoots me down.” Darren sighs and slumps back against the rocks behind him._ _

__“Yeah but, dude, your plan was for him to leave his entire life and come with you.” Joey gives Darreh a duh look. “What would you do if he asked you to leave your family to be with _him_?” _ _

__Joey moves to rest against the rock wall beside him. His fins flick out to brush against Darren’s letting his friend know he’s there for him, despite his words._ _

__What he isn’t expecting is the contemplative look Darren gives him back. “You couldn’t…” Joey protests. “You _wouldn’t_?” _ _

__“He’s my _mate_ ,” Darren points out, snapping slightly at Joey. “You stay with your mate.” It wouldn’t be the easiest thing to do but forced between never being with his mate or any alternative, Darren already knows what choice he would make. _ _

__“Darren…” Joey gives him a troubled look. “Are you sure you don’t just have surface sickness?”_ _

__They both wince just thinking of it - what happens to those merpeople who go too close to the surface, get stuck in nets or coves when the tide goes down._ _

__Even when they are saved, they’re never the same. Being without water, being too close to the sun and too dry gives them horrible fevers and sends them to a place in their minds that no one else can follow._ _

__They don’t normally live very long, a cycle or two more at most._ _

__“It’s not sickness Joey,” Darren says, growing annoyed. “I’m not sick, I’m in love.” For anyone to call what he feels for Chris wrong or worse, a side affect of being ill kills him. He feels so much for Chris and he knows that it can’t be illness._ _

__Joey squeezes Darren in a shoulder hug. “Okay. I believe you. But this talk of being _with_ him…” _ _

__“He’s mine, of course I want to be with him.” Darren sighs. “Wouldn’t you want to be with yours? Wouldn’t you want to always be with them and never have to feel separated by anything?”_ _

__“I guess,” Joey says, though it’s an uncomfortable response. He doesn’t have a mate. He’s never felt the way Darren is describing. He just knows that he’d miss his best friend._ _

__Darren feels bad, he hadn’t meant to snap. Reaching over, Darren wraps an arm and his tail around Joey, pulling him in for a hug. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly. He would miss his best friend if he left, without a doubt he would. What he feels for Chris is strong and deep but what he feels for his family group and his friends is also strong and it would be painful for Darren to be separated from them, he knows this._ _

__“I don’t know Joey. I don’t know. I just… I wish there was an easy solution for this.” Joey, nicely, doesn’t say that leaving the two-legger and taking a sireno mate would be the easy solution. He hasn’t known about Chris long but he can tell how Darren feels just by the look on his face._ _

__“Well, I’m not saying that this is a solution, but Madame Tully was telling a story to the tadpoles the other day,” Joey says._ _

__“Wait, Madame Tully? She’s like in her sixth cycle right? She going on the Swim?” Darren is impressed. Madame Tully is the oldest sirena he’s ever me._ _

__“The same,” Joey agrees, nodding. “I heard her telling a story to the tadpoles, about a sirena in love with a two-legger and she’s able to become one and live with him.”_ _

__Darren sighs and slumps back. “Joey, that’s just a legend,” Darren shakes his head sadly. “That isn’t real.”_ _

__“Who says? It might be. And if anyone is going to know it would be Madame Tully.”_ _

__“So what, I just go to her and say ‘Hey so I mated with a two-legger, how do I grow legs’?”_ _

__Joey shrugs, arms crossing over his chest. “Well, I don’t know but it’s _something_ , right?” Darren sighs and nods because it isn’t much, but it is something. _ _

__*_ _

__Madame Tully is very old and very kind to the young ones, but very uninterested in talking to Darren. Her silvery hair flows behind her as she swims about, overturning rocks to look for a nice mid-afternoon snack. “If you’re going to follow me, tadpole, you’ll help me hunt. I’d like shrimp or clams, if you please.”_ _

__Darren isn’t used to not being adored by the older ones. Usually they pinch his cheeks and talk about what a healthy, plump tail he has and coo about wanting him to mate with their granddaughters._ _

__But this gruff response is not what he is expecting. He scrambles to keep up with her, his tail pumping as she swims on ahead. Shrimp and clams, neither should be too difficult of a hunt for Darren and he sets off forward, keeping a sharp eye out. He knows here there is a large bed of rock and coral and he swims over, hoping that he’ll be lucky today._ _

__Once Tully has collected what she thinks is her share of lunch, she nods to Darren. “What did you come after, then?”_ _

__“I wanted you to tell me more about the two-legger story,” Darren explains, settling in beside her. He isn’t really hungry, he’s just hoping for information._ _

__“The two-legger story?” She repeats, cracking into a clam. Darren isn’t sure if she is feigning ignorance or if she is really unsure of what he means._ _

__“The story you were telling the other tadpoles, the one about the sireno that mated with a human?”_ _

__She lifts an eye at him. There’s an amused note to her voice when she says, “But that’s just a story, you know.”_ _

__Darren squirms, the tip of his tail twitching. “Yes, I know it is a story you tell the tadpoles, I was just wondering… Don’t all stories come from somewhere?”_ _

__“Perhaps…” she says. She takes her time eating, not looking at Darren. It’s almost as if she’s forgotten he’s even there or that they were in the middle of a conversation. Darren is beginning to get antsy when she starts to speak again. “The story is merely this: once upon a time, a naughty young mer such as yourself swam too close to the surface. He was drawn to the bright of the sun in ways that a mer really shouldn’t, and no matter how many times his kin told him to stay close he always snuck off on his own. One day, he heard a great splash not very far away from him. It was a two-leg, one who had no water sense at all and fell from her water-home into the sea. This mer, always finding adventures he shouldn’t, took one look at her and he knew she was to be his mate. But she saw his tail and she screamed, too afraid by what she did not know - for it is true, two-legs know nothing of the sea. They scrape the surface and think they’ve glimpsed the depths, but they _cannot_ know of us.”_ _

__She pauses to find Darren hanging on every word._ _

__“He knew she would not love him as he were,” Tully continues. “So he went and found a sea witch to enchant him so that when he felt the sun on his scales they would turn to skin. He found his mate and they were together, as happily as could be. Or so the story goes.”_ _

__“The … story?” Darren asks, looking at Tully closely. “There is something more to it isn’t there? Something that isn’t in the story.” Darren doesn’t like to brag but he is one of the smartest in their family group._ _

__“Stories become so because they are interesting. The truth is not so much.” Tully puts down the clam she’s prying at and looks him right in the eye. “No enchantment was needed for the boy. Something in his blood did him a kindness. The boy wanted it so badly that it became truth. Or perhaps the boy never existed at all.”_ _

__“Wait, so, because he _wanted_ to be a two-legger, he _became_ one?” The idea that it could really be this simple, that all Darren would need to do would be to wish really hard and then he’d be able to stay with Chris is overwhelming. _ _

__“Yes, and no,” Tully says, going back to her food. She sounds bored now. “He was the right kind of boy who wanted the right kind of mate. For all that his story may tempt you, the same has not happened for many other foolish young mers who thought they could sprout legs by closing their eyes and wishing it so.”_ _

__Darren growls, growing frustrated by the riddles Tully talks in. “Speak plain to me, how did the boy grow legs?”_ _

__Her eyes narrow toward him. “You think your tone will win you favors? I’ve told you all that I know. You may leave now.”_ _

__“No, no I’m sorry, please Madame Tully,” Darren says quickly. He swiftly swims over in front of her, sinking down into the sand below her. “Please, I didn’t mean to be rude, I just really need to know. I _beg_ of you.”_ _

__“I can tell you nothing more,” she says, looking him over. “Do you think I am so many cycles old that I as there to see it myself? I only know what I know. There is no magic spell, no secret I can share. If it’s meant to be, it happens. And if it does not happen, it was not meant to be.”_ _

__“But how do I see if it is meant to happen?” Darren begs. “He wanted it to happen, well, I want it to happen. Do I need to want harder?”_ _

__“I do not _know_ , young one,” Tully says, sighing. “I do not know.” _ _

__Darren sighs and slumps down into the sand. His tail droops and he drops his head into his hands. How is he supposed to find a way to be with Chris if not even Madame Tully can tell him what to do?_ _

__*_ _

__Chris goes back the next day to find Darren, but Darren isn’t there._ _

__He goes back the day after that, and the day after that…_ _

__Darren is never there._ _

__*_ _

__Darren questions as many of the older sirenos as he can but none of them can help him. No one else knows any more of the story, they all insist it is just a fish tale, just something fun to tell the tadpoles. He’s so consumed by trying to find a solution he doesn’t even have time to get to the surface to see Chris._ _

__They are two nights away from the Swim but still, Darren is no closer to figuring out a solution. He slowly swims into the family cave, not expecting his mother to be there, polishing shells._ _

__She looks up at him, smiling. “Come, work with me. We need to talk, do we not?”_ _

__She’s heard what Darren’s been asking about, of course. Everyone’s heard and she’ll question him if she needs to, but hopes he’ll choose to tell her on his own._ _

__Darren slinks in closer, looking up at his mama from under his eyelashes. “We do?” He’s not aware the stories are getting around and around to his mother._ _

__She sets aside the shells she’s polishing and reaches out, taking his hands. Darren is slight compared to the other mermen his age, but his fingers are still bigger than hers. “Do you remember when Chuck began seeing Arista? How you ran to me all excited because you could tell me a secret? And I told you that I knew already, because mothers know all? It was no second sight; just the whispers of everyone else. Gossip, my darling; everyone does it.”_ _

__Darren huffs quietly, he can only imagine what the gossip going around about him must be like. “Oh and what are the girls saying about me now?” Darren is hoping that Joey hasn’t said anything. He trusts Joey but sometimes things can accidentally get out. He isn’t sure how to explain to his mama that he met a two-legger and is in love with him._ _

__“That you’ve got secret trysts with someone. You’re all the talk, my love - who would dear Darren be courting that he’d sneak away to meet? There’s a betting pool, even; the most pearls are down for Lansen’s widow - she’s a good cycle older than you but still mating age, and attractive enough.” His mother carefully looks over Darren’s face while she speaks. She can already tell from his reaction that it’s not the truth._ _

__Meya, Lansen’s widow, is nice enough and certainly pretty enough, but she could never hold a candle to Chris. In retrospect, Darren should have realized his mother would have figured something out by now. Sighing, he squeezes his mama’s hands and pulls her in deeper in the cave._ _

__“Mama, it is true I have met someone,” he admits slowly._ _

__She nods encouragingly. “Not Meya, though.”_ _

__“No, no, not Meya.” He takes a deep breath. “He’s a boy mama,” Darren starts. He figures it is easier to start here and work up to the ‘he has no tail’ part._ _

__She squeezes his hands. This had crossed her mind before. “You were afraid your father and I would be angry? Because we aren’t. You love who you love, beautiful boy.”_ _

__Darren swallows. “Yes, well, remember that when I say that mama, he doesn’t have a tail. He’s… a two-legger.”_ _

__Cerina considers herself an open minded mermaid. She’s holding her sons to no standards of who to love. She’ll embrace whatever mate they choose and she’s tried to make sure they knew this throughout their entire lives._ _

__But in all the scenarios she’d ever imagined, this just… had not been one. “A two-legger?”_ _

__Darren nods slowly. “Chris is a human,” he starts again. “He lives up on the surface. He’s… he’s great mama.”_ _

__Cerina is… concerned. “A mer does not know a human, son. They do not hear our song any more than a dolphin or an otter does. They should not even see us.”_ _

__Darren pulls back from his mother. “I do too know Chris!” He argues. “He loves me.”_ _

__“You cannot _know_ a human,” she repeats. “You may find him appealing. It’s understandable - they resemble us, but we are not the same creatures. They cannot swim or hunt. They may have their own kind of intelligence, but it is not _ours_.” _ _

__Darren jerks his hands away from his mother’s. “Chris may not be able to swim or hunt like I do but he can hunt his own food for himself. And he is smart and funny and I don’t care if you think I can’t know him I do and I love him and he is mine!”_ _

__“Calm down, tadpole.” She reaches out and pulls him close again. “You always were such a passionate one.”_ _

__“You’re not listening to me,” Darren insists, wiggling away from his mother. “He taught me how to speak Human. I swim up to the surface and spend my time with him, he is _mine_.” _ _

__“The surface?” Cerina goes from slightly concerned to worried. “Are you being careful of sun sickness? Are you well?” She reaches out and pushes his hair from his face, feeling for overwarmth._ _

__“I’m fine mama.” Darren moves back further, trying to get his mother to focus. “We go to a cave so I stay out of the sun.”_ _

__She forces herself to stop checking him over for signs of illness. “That’s good, at least. But - you speak to him? You learned his language? How long have you been seeing him?”_ _

__“I first saw him at the beginning of the warm season.” Darren relaxes now that his mother has stopped insisting that he doesn’t know Chris._ _

__“Oh, darling. You always were too curious for your own good.” She’s heard that he was asking about two-legger stories, heard that he was trying to find ways to not go on the Swim - but she’d truly thought it was his old obsession with them rearing back up, that maybe he’d found someone to court who had the same interest. She hadn’t ever really thought that the person might be a two-legger. She keeps petting his hair, wanting to draw him in like when he was young. “Mer who don’t Swim risk the cold catching them. He may still be here when we come back.”_ _

__“But what if he’s not Mama?” Darren bites down on his bottom lip, worrying it in between his teeth. “He’s my mate and that he might not be here, or that I’d have to be away for so long, it hurts.”_ _

__It’s very hard for Cerina to imagine a mating connecting with a human, but the naked heartbreak on Darren’s face is very real. She cups his cheek. “You are young, you could stay with the Guard.”_ _

__There is a group of mer, the young and strong, who stay to protect their claim on the land and watch over those too old to make the swim._ _

__“But then I’d be away from you.” It isn’t a secret that Darren is a mama’s boy. He loves his mother and the idea of being far from her also hurts._ _

__“Which is what I want,” Cerina says. “For my boy, for both of my boys, to stay with me and be family.”_ _

__Darren’s face falls. There is no way he’s going to be able to be with his mother and with Chris. He is going to have to be without one of them. “I think I need some time Mama,” he says quietly, wrapping his arms around his waist. He needs to think and he needs to figure out what he is going to do. Even if there is not a way to be with Chris with legs like the mer from the story, Darren needs to choose if he stays here to be near Chris or not and he can’t do that near his mother._ _

__Leaning in, Darren kisses her cheek before swimming off to be alone and think._ _

__*_ _

__His grotto isn’t the same without Chris with him. Every place Darren looks he can see Chris there, sitting and laughing, or swimming. This used to be Darren’s favourite place to get away but now, it isn’t just his._ _

__Darren swirls around in front of the ledge that Chris would sit on, swimming back and forth as he shoots looks over to it. Above, over on the rocky surface, Darren can see the small bags that Chris brought with him before. Bits of food and water, sustenance so that he could stay with Darren longer he’d explained._ _

__Every part of it makes his chest ache._ _

__He came here to think, to try to figure out what he wanted to do but Darren quickly realizes that he doesn’t need to think about it at all. He knows what he wants to do, he just needs to make that choice._ _

__Chris is his mate; he loves Chris. The thought of being separated from him for any length of time, kills him inside. As much as he loves his mother, his family group, Joey, none of it is the same._ _

__Sighing, Darren allows himself to slowly sink through the water to the bottom, resting on the sand._ _

__He’s going to stay the winter with the other Guard. Now he just needs to tell his Mama._ _

__*_ _

__Goodbyes are sad, as any goodbyes are._ _

__Darren gets to send messages to his favorite cousins, the ones he enjoys seeing every year, and he gives his Mama and Dad extra hugs, punches Chuck in the arm, and valiantly tries to pretend like he won’t miss Joey’s presence for getting into mischief and just knowing him so well._ _

__Most people think he’s training with the Guard, though he’s made no moves to actually do that. He’s content to let them believe as they will; it won’t matter one way or another once they’re gone._ _

__He stays until he can’t see them in the distance anymore and then, needing a distraction from the overwhelming sadness inside, he swims to the surface._ _

__His mothers knowing looks and heartfelt ‘good luck’ still ring in his ears as he swims himself closer to the rocky shore. There is no one on the edge of the water, no familiar face waiting for him but thats okay, Darren is sure Chris will arrive soon._ _

__There is a rock near the shore line, barely out of the water now with the high tide and Darren is able to curl up on it. The sun is warm on his arms and where it hits his scales. It’s dangerous, he knows - his mother’s concern over sunsickness wasn’t unfounded. But right now, Darren just doesn’t care. As the day goes on, Darren begins to feel lethargic. He grows hungry and thirsty but he won’t leave - Chris could come at any point._ _

__He curls up, arms under his head as he allows himself to rest, just for a bit._ _

__*_ _

__The change in time is the first thing Darren notices as he wakes up. The sun has changed positions in the sky, the entire bay around him is brighter than before. The sun feels even warmer and Darren enjoys that, he smiles and stretches his arms over his head as the sun warms down his whole body. The water must have receded at some point, leaving Darren stranded, laying out on his rock._ _

__He shifts, arms pushing himself up and his legs sliding down in the water before Darren stops. He pulls himself back up, arms holding his body above the rock as he looks down his body and sees, not his familiar pretty gold and green tail but legs. Legs like Chris has. Two-legger leg-like legs._ _

__Darren blinks._ _

__He tries to move his hips, to get his legs to move but all he succeeds in doing is smashing one of them hard against the rock. Darren yelps in pain and flops onto the rock before reaching down to rub at the spot. It’s clear that his new legs are far more sensitive than his tail had been._ _

__With the water receded, it is not far to the rocky shore where Darren meets Chris. He’s exhausted by the time he gets there. His legs are so much weaker than his tail, and the water seems so much more resistant than before. He’s shaking and his chest burns by the time he crawls up onto the rock._ _

__But he’s out of the water. For the first time in his life, he’s completely out of the water with no physical need to get right back in and suddenly he’s terrified. He hears sound better than before, voices nearby, and his heart starts to beat quickly. What if it’s Chris? What if it isn’t Chris?_ _

__But right now Darren is too tired to move. His body hurts and his head hurts and he’s still not sure how to make his legs function (how does Chris do it? They seem to go every which way and none of them being the way Darren _wants_ them to go). He looks over cautiously as he spots two people walking toward him arm in arm. It certainly isn’t Chris but they look friendly enough. Darren offers a wide grin and a wave, something he’s seen Chris do, as they approach. _ _

__“Hello, how are you?” Darren asks, remembering the proper greeting Chris has taught him before._ _

__“Oh my god,” the woman says, eyes wide as she looks at Darren. “You’re naked, dude.”_ _

__The guy’s eyes are equally riveted, though he’s maybe trying not to be so obvious about it._ _

__Darren cocks his head to the side, running what the couple say through his brain again. The woman talks faster than Chris does and it takes him longer to understand what she is saying. “No, I’m Darren,” he says, shaking his head._ _

__“And I’m Melissa,” she says, taking a step forward. Her head tilts a little as she looks at him. “Darren. Are you… from around here? Do you know someone we could call for you?”_ _

__“Mel,” the guy behind her steps up, whispering. “He could be a lunatic.”_ _

__“I don’t think so,” Mel whispers back. “Look at him, Trev. He just looks kind of - you know - not all there?”_ _

__“I am not from here but yes, someone! I am here for Chris,” Darren explains. He’s sure that this will clear things up. He looks down at himself as the woman continues talking to her companion. Darren is pretty sure he hasn’t left any of himself behind but she does seem to be pretty sure that he is missing something._ _

__“Oh! I am all here. I do not have my tail,” he begins to explain. That must be what she notes is missing. Really, two-leggers are much smarter than other mer’s give them credit for._ _

__“Legs now,” Darren continues, holding his legs up and kicking them. “See? Two-legger legs! Like Chris. I can be like Chris now!”_ _

__“Oh,” Trevor says, looking like he sees exactly what she’s talking about now._ _

__“Do you know a last name for Chris?” She asks, reaching around and tugging at Trevor’s sleeve. “Go get your swim trunks from the car.”_ _

__“What-” Trevor looks annoyed, then sighs. “Fine.”_ _

__When he’s gone, she kneels back down by Darren. “A last name, or maybe a phone number? We can call him for you.”_ _

__“I tried calling out for him before but I don’t think he can hear me very well,” Darren says sadly. “Two-leggers don’t have very good ears, sorry.” Darren pats her hand and smiles at her. She’s nice, like Chris._ _

__“Right… no, sweetie, it’s okay.” She squeezes his hand back, still kneeling._ _

__“But now with two legs, I can call him better?” Darren isn’t sure if maybe that will help. He knows Chris’s calls to him underwater didn’t reach nearly as far as other mer’s. The tail and leg change must make the difference in their calls to one another._ _

__She gives him a sad, confused look. “I bet you this Chris of yours is looking for you right now,” she reassures._ _

__Trevor comes back with the shorts. He hands them to Darren, who takes them happily and holds on to them. They’re similar to the things Chris would have on his body when he’d meet Darren here, though differently patterned. Darren scrutinizes the item before looking up at the man cautiously. “Do you know Chris?”_ _

__“Er, what?” Trevor looks back to his girlfriend, scared. Melissa waves him off._ _

__“I don’t think we know Chris,” she apologizes. “Do you want help putting those on?” She points down to the shorts in Darren’s hand and he looks down at them again._ _

__“Put on?” He looks at the shorts and then to both of them and then back to his shorts. He knows Chris had them on each time he met him and both of them are wearing similarly styled items now. It must be some sort of ornamentation for the shoreline. Darren nods as he figures it out, yes that does make sense. “No, no help,” Darren assures them as he begins to tug and pull at the shorts, trying to figure out how they work. There are two holes which seem to make sense for his legs now, he understands that part but there seems to be a sort of rope holding the item together. Darren successfully puts his feet into each hole but the item will only go to his knees. It doesn’t look at all like what Trevor is wearing._ _

__“Help him,” Melissa instructs, looking pointedly at Trevor._ _

__“Why am I doing it?’ Trevor grumbles, staring at Darren, not moving._ _

__“Because you’re a guy.”_ _

__“He could be dangerous Mel, come on, let’s just leave him here and tell someone at the shelter about him. They can come and get him.”_ _

__“Does he look dangerous to you?” Melissa asks, looking back down at Darren. He’s ignoring their conversation, trying to figure the shorts out still. If he wiggles just right he can continue to slide them up his body just a bit more._ _

__“Fine, fine, fine,” Trevor grumbles, kneeling beside Darren and helping him. “Do you not wear clothes at all dude?”_ _

__“Clothes? No. Don’t need clothes,” Darren explains. Trevor is a bit gruff but Darren likes him anyways. He quickly undoes the rope on the shorts and makes the large hole bigger, large enough to slide up the rest of Darren’s legs._ _

__“Ass up, man,” Trevor says. Darren blinks, unsure what he means until Trevor jerks on the material, hitting Darren on the butt. Using his hands, he pushes himself up slightly and then the shorts are on, around him._ _

__“Huh,” Darren says, looking down where he is wearing the shorts. “Clothes.” He fingers the material, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger. It’s stiff and a bit itchy but he supposes most ornamental items are unpleasant._ _

__“Yup, clothes,” Trevor repeats. He reaches forward into Darren’s lap and that makes Darren jerk back._ _

__“No, no, only Chris,” Darren says quickly. He knows what is between his legs and what it is for. He’s familiar enough with Chris’s to recognize the similarity in his own (even if it does look different from Chris’s)._ _

__“Oh my god, I’m not, no I’m not doing that, fucking hell--” Trevor groans and quickly does the ties on Darren’s shorts. “This is way more information than I need dude.”_ _

__Darren is going to protest again but Trevor has finished tying the rope and Darren can feel how snug the clothes are now. He understands that they must have needed to be fit to him, it only makes sense. He nods and reaches out, patting Trevor on the cheek. “Thanks to you.”_ _

__“You are weird man,” Trevor says, sighing and standing back up. “But at least you won’t scare any kids now.”_ _

__“Darren, where is Chris?” Melissa asks. “We want to get Chris for you.”_ _

__Darren opens his mouth to reply but the truth is, he doesn’t know where Chris is. Chris has told him about his home briefly but all Darren really knows is that when he comes to the surface to meet him, Chris is always at this spot. “Chris is here,” he says finally, patting the spot right next to him._ _

__“Mel he is so baked,” Trevor whispers. She shakes him off and tries again._ _

__“No, he’s not here right now. Why don’t you come with us? We can take you to a shelter.”_ _

__Darren shakes his head quickly. “Not with you. With Chris. He be here. I be here for him,” he insists. Darren isn’t leaving until Chris comes. He knows he will, it just take a bit of time for him to show up is all._ _

__“Come on babe, he doesn’t want to leave. We can’t make him.”_ _

__“He can’t stay out here all day, he’ll get sick,” Melissa argues._ _

__“We’ll come and check on him later okay? Or maybe we can tell the shelter about him and they can send someone later to check on him but he’s not going anywhere.” Trevor tugs on his arm and Melissa finally relents._ _

__“I hope you find Chris,” she says sadly, patting his hand._ _

__“Find Chris. Yes, I will.” Darren smiles at her as she looks so sad. He leans forward and presses his forehead to hers, hoping to make her smile and understand. Trevor finally pulls her away, leaving Darren alone again on the shore._ _

__*_ _

__Chris leaves work and gets in his car, moving on autopilot with the same dimness to his soul that he’s felt for a week now._ _

__He’ll do exactly as he did the night before, and the night before that, and every night since he said goodbye to Darren. He’ll sit in traffic for close to an hour and then he’ll make his way to the beach and park his car and get out and go to the spot he used to meet Darren at._ _

__He’ll wait until it’s dark and then wait a little bit more after that, knowing all the while that Darren won’t be there._ _

__Traffic is especially annoying with some kind of accident blocking a few lanes. There’s part of Chris that just whispers _go home_ \- it’s not like this will end any differently than any other night. He could go, maybe try and catch up on the emails that are piling up on his freelance account, give his cat some attention, do some fucking laundry. _ _

__But he doesn’t do any of that. He drives to the beach and parks his car and gets out. He has to lean against the door and take a few breaths before he can walk forward. It’s harder and harder each time to prepare himself for the inevitable disappointment._ _

__Darren won’t be there._ _

__He probably won’t ever see Darren again._ _

__Darren won’t be there._ _

__Whatever they had was magical, it was perfect, and Chris doesn’t get to keep perfect things._ _

__Darren won’t be there._ _

__But Chris still has to go._ _

__There are people in his spot._ _

__Chris feels a surge of annoyance. He has the same spot every day. Why are there people there? He can hear a child laughing and yeah the last thing he wants right now is to put up with idiot children running around, undoubtedly not controlled in the least by equally idiotic parents._ _

__Then he hears a laugh that shakes him._ _

___Darren._ _ _

__“So, you have legs now?” The child is asking Darren, poking at his leg._ _

__“Yes. Legs now.” Darren moves his feet as he would have moved his fins, making the child laugh. She is the smartest person Darren has spoken with all day, she actually understands Darren’s explanations about his tail._ _

__“Do you miss your tail?” She asks, still looking curiously at his legs, as if expecting them to change back right in front of her eyes._ _

__Darren sighs a bit sadly. “A little,” he admits to her quietly. “I had really pretty tail and was fastest swimmers of my friends. I hunted the best, too.”_ _

__“I’m sorry,” the girl says, her voice sad as she pats his leg. Darren smiles and leans in, resting his forehead against hers._ _

__“It’s okay little one,” he assures her. “I meet Chris soon and he is better than a tail.” The little girl giggles, her head resting against Darren’s as she smiles back at him._ _

__A loud voice cuts through. “Excuse me, exactly what are you doing with your hands on my daughter?” A very angry and slightly terrified looking mother yanks her little girl back. “I will call the fucking police and have you locked away if you lay a finger on her.”_ _

__Chris hears the scene before he gets there, but when he realizes the woman is screaming at Darren he runs to close the distance between them. “Stop, no, stop, he was just talking.” Chris insists, trying to get past her to him. He barely even notices the little girl but he can’t have her call the police, he can’t have anyone take Darren from him _now_. “He’s fine, he wouldn’t hurt her!” _ _

__Darren breaks into a huge smile as he turns his body. “Chris!” He reaches out for him, grabbing on to Chris’s hand and pulling him down onto the shore. He still hasn’t got the hang of standing on his legs (something he learned much earlier to his embarrassment and pain in his ass) and prefers to remain sitting. “Chris _here_. I know you be here. They want to make me go but I know you be here and see me.”_ _

__“Oh my god.” Chris drops to his knees by Darren, clinging onto him. “I don’t understand, I don’t understand, you’re here-”_ _

__He’s shaking and his voice is choked a little._ _

__Darren frowns and reaches around Chris to hug him close. “I am here, of course I am here. You are mine Chris. I don’t leave you.” He tilts his head and nuzzles into the side of Chris’s neck, breathing him in and smiling. Chris smells like Darren is familiar with, salt and sea air and it is perfect._ _

__The woman and her daughter leave. The passersby realize the scene is over. Chris and Darren don’t notice a thing, too busy wrapped in each other. “I’m yours,” Chris whispers, pulling back to kiss Darren. “And you’re mine. And you - oh my god - you have legs. You have legs and… you’re wearing swim trunks and… you know what, I don’t need to know. You’re here.”_ _

__Chris sits up, hands on Darren’s arms to help him to his feet. He laughs when Darren stumbles a little, but it’s a joyous laugh, because Darren gets it after a second, he _does_ stand. _ _

__Darren clings to Chris’s arm, needing to use it for support as his legs still feel shaky. “Yes, legs,” he exclaims happily. “Now I go with you. Stay with you.” He is proud and happy and excited and Darren wants to grab onto Chris and spin around like he saw others doing before but everything still feels unused. Instead he slowly stumbles in closer until he’s able to crowd up into Chris’s body and snuggle into him._ _

__Chris kisses him again, desperately, over and over. “You’ll come home with me? You don’t have to go leave again?”_ _

__Darren shakes his head. “No, I stay with you now.”_ _

__“Good.” Chris blinks back happy tears that threaten and firmly takes Darren’s hand. “Then lets go home.”_ _

**Author's Note:**

> [Reblog on tumblr!](http://alittledizzy.tumblr.com/post/102919165565/title-winds-of-the-caspian-sea)


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